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AUTHOR: 


DYSON,  C.  C. 


TITLE: 


MADAME  DE 
MAINTENON,  HER  LIFE 


PLACE: 


NEW  YORK 

DA  TE : 

1910 


COLUMBIA  UNIVERSITY  LIBRARIES 
PRESERVATION  DEPARTMENT 


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Dyson,  0  C. 

Madame  de  Maintenon,  her  life  and  times  1635-1719,  by 
L.  C.  Dyson,  with  a  photogravure  portrait  &  sixteen  other 
Illustrations.    London,  J.  Lane;  New  York,  J.  Lane  com- 

316  p.    17  pi.  (incl.  front,  ports.)    ZS'^". 

"List  of  authorities  on  which  this  life  is  founded":  p.  11-12. 


rJ.Vf--^'!!*^"''";-^''^"^,^'^^  d'Aubigne,  marquise  de,  1635-1719.    2.  France 
Court  and  courtiers.    3.  France-Hist.— Louis  xiv,  1643-1715        — ™^^ 


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MADAME   DE  MAINTENON 

HER    LIFE    AND    TIMES    1635-1719 


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MADAME 


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HER  LIFE  AND  TIMES   1635-1719 
BY    C.    C.    DYSON  J»  J*  -^ 

WITH  A  PHOTOGRAVURE  PORTRAIT 
^  SIXTEEN  OTHER  ILLUSTRATIONS 


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,1 


LONDON :    JOHN    LANE   THE    BODLEY    HEAD 
NEW    YORK:    JOHN    LANE    COMPANY    MCMX 


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TurnbuU  &*  SptarSy  Prtnttrs,  Edtnburgh 


A 


MADAME  DE  MAINTENON 


"People  want  romances.  Why  not  look  for  them  in 
History?  There  one  finds  the  human  heart  displaying  its 
most  vivid  passions  in  varied  and  dramatic  scenes,  and  above 
all,  the  supreme  charm  of  reality." — GuizoT. 


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PREFACE 


THlfiOPHILE  GAUTIER  said  that  the  ''  Bio- 
graphic Universelle  **  is  more  full  of  romance 
and  entertainment  than  any  work  of  fiction, 
and  that  the  "  Arabian  Nights  "  could  not 
vie  with  it  in  that  respect. 

Among  all  the  wise,  witty,  wicked  or  beautiful  women 
who  Hved  in  France  in  the  seventeenth  century,  a  time 
when  everything  was  possible  and  the  strangest  adven- 
tures were  everyday  facts,  no  figure  is  more  striking  than 
that  of  Frangoise  d'Aubigne,  Mdme.  de  Maintenon,  whose 
eventful  career  sounded  the  whole  gamut  of  fortune  ; 
who  was  bom  in  the  precincts  of  a  prison  and  ended  her 
days  as  the  wife  of  the  proudest  king  in  Europe.  Her 
life  is  also  an  illustration  of  the  fact  that  virtue  and  merit 
are  occasionally  crowned  even  in  this  world,  and  that  this 
road  to  fortune  is  less  slippery  than  that  of  the  passions, 
and  those  who  travel  by  it  are  less  liable  to  reverses  ; 
also  that  a  truly  devout  life  may  be  lived  in  the 
midst  of  the  world  and  in  the  neighbourhood  of  a 
throne. 

When  asked  to  write  her  experiences,  Mdme.  de 
Maintenon  refused,  saying :  "  If  I  told  the  whole  truth 
it  would  not  be  believed.** 

People  will  never  be  tired  of  hearing  about  her,  because 
her  life  *  was  an  enigma,  which,  in  spite  of  all  researches, 

*  Comte  d'Haussonville. 


6  MADAME  DE  MAINTENON 

has   not   been    completely   solved,    though   nearly    tw 
hundred  years  have  elapsed  since  she  died. 

About  1750  La  Beaumelle  obtained  from  the  community 
of  St  Cyr,  and  from  the  steward  of  the  Due  de  Noailles 
numerous    documents    on  which    he    based    his  fifteei^ 
volumes  of  Memoirs.     He  has  been  accused  of  fictitious 
interpolations. 

In  1848  her  descendant,  the  Due  de  Noailles,  published 
his  *'  Life  of  Mdme.  de  Maintenon.'* 

But  the  most  important  contributions  to  our  know- 
ledge of  the  subject  are  the  numerous  works  of  M.  T. 
Lavallee,  the  first  of  which  was  published  about  1854. 
M.  Lavallee  was  a  Professor  at  the  Military  College  of 
St  Cyr,  and  he  devoted  fifteen  years  to  the  study  of  the 
immense  mass  of  documents  relating  to  Mdme.  de 
Maintenon,  and  the  original  Institution  of  St  Cyr,  which 
are  preserved  in  the  Library  of  the  Seminary  at  Versailles, 
and  in  the  Archives  of  the  Prefecture.^ 

The  numerous  works  which  he  has  published  set  Mdme. 
de  Maintenon  before  the  world  in  a  new  light  and  have 
completely  vindicated  her  character  (on  which  aspersions 
had  been  cast  by  the  malignity  of  St  Simon  and  the 
scurrility  of  some  other  writers),  and  have  cleared  up 
points  on  which  great  uncertainty  had  previously  pre- 
vailed. 

Voltaire  in  his  "  History  of  the  Age  of  Louis  XIV." 
had  prepared  the  way  for  a  change  in  public  opinion  by 
some  important  and  impartial  pronouncements  as  to  her 
character  and  career. 


>  They  consist  principally  of  her  own  letters,  documents  relating., to  , 
the  foundation  of  St  Cyr,  and  the  voluminous  "Memoirs  of  the"  \ 
Commnnity." 


PREFACE  7 

This  work  has  been  contmued  by  M.  Bonhomme,  who 
iobtamed  some  letters  written  by  Mdme.  de  Maintenon 
Iwhich  were  in  the  possession  of  a  cousin,  Sophie  de 
Villette,  Abbess  of  Sens,  who  had  inherited  them  from  her 
mother,'  MdUe.  de  MarsiUy,  who  was  educated  at  St  Cyr 
under  Mdme.  de  Maintenon's  superintendence,  and  married 
the  Marquis  de  Villette,  the  cousin  with  whom  Mdme.  de 
Mamtenon  was  most  intimate.    M.  Bonhomme  pubUshed 

these  letters  in  1863. 

Another  important  work  is  that  of  M.  Geoffroy : 
"Mdme.  de  Maintenon  d'apres  sa  correspondance 
authentique,"  published  1887. 

M.  de  Lavallee  had  been  preparing  other  works  on  the 
same  subject,  but  his  death  prevented  their  publication. 
Subsequently,  his  heirs  and  executors  handed  over  these 
manuscripts  to  M.  Hanoteaux  and  Comte  d'Haussonville, 
Members  of  the  French  Academy,  who  published  them 
in  1902,  under  the  title  of  "  Souvenirs  de  Mdme.  de 
Maintenon."  This  work  contains  her  last  letters  and  the 
last  letters  of  Mdme.  de  Caylus,  as  well  as  the  only 
authentic  copy  of  the  Journal  of  Mdme.  de  Maintenon's 
secretary,  Mdlle.  d'Aumale,  and  other  papers  left  by  that 

lady. 

The  editors  consider  that  this  work  completes  the  con- 
fidences begun  by  Mdme.  de  Maintenon  to  the  Ladies  at 
St  Cyr,  and  that  all  Mdme.  de  Maintenon  intended  the 
world  to  know  has  now  been  told,  for  she  carefully  de- 
stroyed her  own  papers  in  1713.  It  is  supposed  that 
among  them  were  the  proofs  of  her  marriage  to  Louis  XIV., 
of  which  no  documentary  evidence  has  yet  been  found, 
though  no  one  now  doubts  that  such  a  ceremony  took 
place. 


8 


MADAME  DE  MAINTENON 


In  1889  M.  Gelin  of  Niort  pubUshed,  in  his  "  Fran9oise 
d'Aubign^/'  some  new  and  interesting  evidence  locating 
her  birthplace,  and  giving  details  of  her  early  hfe  at  the 
Chateau  de  Mursay.  But  the  latest  and  most  important 
contribution  to  an  accurate  knowledge  of  Mdme.  de 
Maintenon's  career  is  that  of  M.  A.  de  Boislisle  of  the 
French  Institute,  who,  in  1904,  pubHshed  his  "  Paul 
Scarron  et  Frangoise  d'Aubigne,"  a  reprint  from  the 
"  Rdvue  des  questions  historiques." 

In  it  he  proves  with  regard  to  certain  leading  incidents 
in  Mdme.  de  Maintenon's  hfe,  such  as  her  sojourn  with 
her  parents  in  the  West  Indies  and  the  adventures  there 
encountered,  of  which  so  many  romantic  tales  are  told, 
the  arrangement  of  her  marriage  to  Scarron,  the  granting 
of  the  pension  on  which  her  connection  with  Mdme.  de 
Montespan  and  introduction  at  Court  were  supposed  to 
hang,  and  concerning  which  many  effective  scenes  have 
been  elaborated  by  many  writers,  .  .  .  that  the  accounts 
hitherto  accepted  are  incorrect,  and  are  merely  legends, 
first  evolved  from  the  imagination  of  the  narrators  and 
then  handed  down  by  hearsay  till  they  were  finally 
accepted  as  facts. 

Innumerable  Letters  and  Memoirs  exist  written  by 
persons  who  hved  in  the  reign  of  Louis  XIV.  and  his 
successor.  St  Simon's  Memoirs  alone  fill  thirty  volumes. 
Most  of  these  Memoirs  are  excellent  reading,  and  all 
contain  many  allusions  to  Mdme.  de  Maintenon  and 
accounts  of  various  events  of  her  life,  and  most  diverse 
opinions  of  her  character  and  conduct  are  to  be  found  in 
them. 

All  histories  of  that  age  deal  with  her  more  or  less  at 
length. 


PREFACE  9 

Over  four  thousand  of  her  own  letters  have  been  pre- 
served. 

For  the  benefit  of  those  who  have  neither  the  money 
to  buy,  nor  the  time  to  study  such  voluminous  records 
of  life  at  the  Court  of  Louis  the  Great,  the  author,  having 
weighed  the  evidence  for  and  against  disputed  points, 
has  extracted  from  the  mass  of  superfluous  matter  the 
leading  traits  of  her  character  and  the  most  interesting 
episodes  of  her  life,  and  put  them  together  in  a  concise 
form,  hoping  to  give  a  clear  conception  of  Mdme.  de 
Maintenon  and  her  career  to  the  present  generation,  who 
for  the  most  part  have  but  an  indistinct  idea  of  her  per- 
sonahty,  and  still  more  so  of  the  scope  of  her  great  work, 
St  Cyr. 


LIST    OF    AUTHORITIES    ON    WHICH 
THIS  LIFE  IS  FOUNDED 

Mdmoires  de  Mdlle.   Montpensier,  petite-fille  de   Henri    IV.,  1627- 

1688.     Ed.  A.  Cheruel.     Pans. 
M^moires  du  Due  de  St  Simon,  1693-1723.    3°  Vols.     Paris. 
M^moires  de  Mdme.  de  Montespan.     1690.     Paris. 
Si^cle  de  Louis  XIV.     Par  Voltaire,  1752.     Paris. 
Lettres  et  Mdmoires  pour  servir  k  I'Histoire  de  Mdme.  de  Mamtenon. 

15  Vols.,  par  M.  de  la  Beaumelle,  1789.  Pans. 
Les  Souvenirs  de  Mdme.  de  Caylus.  1789-  Paris. 
Histoire  de  Mdme.  de  Maintenon  et  la  Cour  de  Louis  XIV.     Par 

M.  Lafont  d'Aussone,  18 14.     Pans. 
M^moires  secretes  de  Mdme.  de  Maintenon.     1827.     Pans. 
Memoires  secretes  de  la  Cour  de  Louis  XIV.     D'Apr^s  les  lettres  de 

la  Duchesse  d'Orldans.     Pub.  1830.     Pans. 
Mdme.  de  Maintenon.    Par  la  Comtesse  de  Genlis,  pub.  1837-    Pans. 
La  Vie  de  Mdme.  de  Maintenon.    Par  le  Due  de  NoaiUes,  1848. 

Paris. 
Gal^rie  de  Femmes  c^l^bres.     Par  St  Beuve,  1859.     Paris. 
Caus^ries  de  Lundi.    St  Beuve,  i860.     Paris. 
Lettres  historiques  et  ddifiantes  de  Mdme.  de  Maintenon.     Par  T. 

Lavallee,  1856.     Paris. 
Histoire  de  Mdme.  de  Maintenon  et  de  la  maison  royale  de  St  Cyr. 

Par  T.  Lavallee,  1862.     Pans. 
La  Famine  d'Aubign^  et  la  jeunesse  de  Mdme.  de  Maintenon  et  les 

Memoires  de  Languet  de  G^ry,  Archev^que  de  Sens.     Par  T. 

Lavallee,  1863.     Paris. 
Correspondance  gdn^rale  de  Mdme.  de  Maintenon.     Edit^e  par  T. 

Lavallee,  pub.  1865.     Pans. 
Mdme.  de  Maintenon  et  sa  famiUe,  d'apres  des  lettres  in^dites.     Pub. 

par  H.  Bonhomme,  1863.     Pans. 
Le  Theatre  de  St  Cyr.     Par  A.  Taphanael,  1 876.     Paris. 

Fragments  sur  Mdme.  de  Maintenon.    E.  Foumicr,  1885.     Paris. 

II 


12 


MADAME  DE  MAINTENON 


Mdme.  de  Maintenon  d'apr^s  sa  correspondance  authentique.     Par 
A.  Geoffroy,  1887.     Paris. 

Mdnie.  de  Maintenon  et  la  Revocation  de  I'^dit  de  Nantes.     Par 
A.  Rosset,  1897.     Paris. 

Frangoise  d'Aubign^.     Par  H.  G^lin,  pub.  k  Niort,  1899. 

Souvenirs  de  Mdme.  de  Maintenon.     Par  G.  Hanotaux  and  le  Comte 
d'Haussonville  de  TAcad^mie  Frangaise,  1902.     Paris. 

Paul  Scarron  et  Frangoise  d'Aubign^,  d'apr^s  des  documents  in^dits. 
Par  A.  de  Boislisle,  Membre  de  I'lnstitut  Frangaise,  1904.    Paris. 

Mdme.  de  Maintenon  et  I'^ducation.     Par  Oct.  Gr^ard  de  TAcaddmie 
Frangaise,  1905.     Paris. 


CONTENTS 


Preface     . 

CRAP. 

I.  Birth  and  Ancestry 


II.  Girlhood    . 

III.  Marriage    . 

IV.  Widowhood 


V.  Mdme.    Scarron    is    appointed    Gouver- 

NANTE  TO  THE   KiNG'S  CHILDREN  . 
VI.   GOUVERNANTE       TO       KiNG'S       CHILDREN— 

Continued  . 

VII.  Mdme.  Scarron    becomes    Marquise    de 
Maintenon  .  .  ,  , 


X.  Mdme.    de     Maintenon's     Position     at 
Court       ..... 

XI.  Death  of  the  Queen 


PACK 

5 

19 
29 

39 
53 

67 
76 

82 


VIII.  The  Due  du  Maine's  Journey  to  Barege       89 

IX.  Mdme.     de    Maintenon's    Progress    in 

Favour     .  .  .  .  .102 


107 


119 


XII.  Mdme.  de  Maintenon  is  Married  to  Louis 

XIV.  .  •  .  •  ,      126 

13 


u 


MADAME  DE  MAINTENON 


.  • 


CHAP. 


XIII.  Public  Opinion  on  the  Marriage 
XIV.  Character  of  Mdme.  de  Maintenon 
XV.  Court  Life  from  the  Inside 
XVI.  Court  Personages 
XVII.  Mdme.  de  Maintenon's  Relations 
XVIII.  The  Foundation  of  St  Cyr 
XIX.  St  Cyr  and  its  Staff 
XX.  St  Cyr  Maxims 


XXI.  The  Inner  Circle  of  Mdme.  de  Maintenon  232 

XXII.  The  Court  and  the  War  .  •  245 

XXIII.  The  Duke  and  Duchess  of  Burgundy   .  256 

XXIV.  Last    Years    of    the    Reign    of    Louis 

XIV ^^4 


FAGS        . 

-  i^^Ml 

.   134    i 

■ 

144 

1 

.   159 

H   ^^^1 

.   173 

L 

.   185 

r 

200 

1 

209 

1 

224 

1 ) 

XXV.  Character  of  Louis  XIV. 


272 


XXVI.  Mdme.   de   Maintenon   Retires  to   End 

her  Days  at  St  Cyr       .  .  .286 

XXVII.  Some  Account  of  what  befell  those 
Members  of  Mdme.  de  Maintenon's 
Inner  Circle  who  survived  Her  .      298 

XXVIII.  Last  Days  of  St  Cyr       .  .  .305 

Index  .  .  .  .  •      3^3 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


*  Fran^oise  d'Aubign£  (Madame  Scarron)  .     Frontispiece 

FACING  PAGE 
29 

By  permission  of  M.  Henri  G«ilin,  Niort,  Paris. 


Chateau  de  Mursay 


*  The  Abb^  Scarron 

•     •     • 

*  Madame  de  Montespan 
Louis  XIV.  as  a  Young  Man,  by  Mignard 

By  permission  of  Sir  J.  Robinson. 

*  Chateau  de  Maintenon  (i7th-i8th  Century) 
Louis  Auguste  de  Bourbon,  Due  du  Maine 

*  Louis  XIV.  at  Time  of  his  Marriage  to  Madame 

DE  Maintenon    .... 

Madame  de  Maintenon,  by  Mignard 

Reproduced  from  portrait  in  Louvre  by  Clement  &  Braun. 

*  Madame  de  Maintenon  in  Royal  Ermine 

Buildings  of  St  Cyr,  with  Community  in  Fore 
ground   ..... 

A  Dame  de  St  Louis  and  Three  Pupils 
♦Madame  de  Maintenon  in  Chapel 

*  The  Duke  of  Burgundy  . 
^  The  Duchess  of  Burgundy 

*  Louis  XIV.  in  Old  Age    . 

*  Chateau  de  Maintenon  (Present  Day) 

The  portraits  marked  *  are  all  reproduced  from  prinU  in  British  Museam 


39 
67 

76 

82 
98 

126 
134 

159 

200 
224 

233 
245 
^56 
272 
298 


\    - 


\ 


..(r 


MADAME  DE  MAINTENON 


{ 


I 


CHAPTER   I 


BIRTH  AND  ANCESTRY 


FRANgOISE  D'AUBIGN6  was  granddaughter 
of  the  great  d'Aubigne  of  the  sixteenth  century. 
The  warrior-writer,  Calvinist-Frondeur,  the  bold 
and  caustic  companion  of  Henri  Quatre.    Thus 

St  Beuve  sums  him  up. 

To  give  him  his  fuU  title  :  Theodore  Agrippa  d'Aubign^, 
Chevalier ;  Seigneur  de  Landes  et  Guinemer ;  Baron  de 
Surineau ;  Equerry  and  first  Gentleman  of  the  Chamber 
to  the  King  of  Navarre ;  Vice-Admiral  of  the  West  Coast ; 
Governor  of  Rochelle,  and  the  adjacent  Isles ;  Ambassador 
extraordinary  to  Germany ;  author  of  a  history  of  his  own 
times  that  was  much  esteemed,  and  which  he  entitled 
"  Histoire  Universelle."  ^ 

He  was  an  ardent  Protestant,  and  enroUed  himself  under 
the  standard  of  the  young  King  of  Navarre,  afterwards 
Henri  IV.  of  France  and  Navarre. 

D'Aubign^  became  the  intimate  companion  of  this  king, 
and  acquired  the  privUege  of  speaking  plainly  to  him, 
without  giving  offence.  In  the  Wars  of  the  League, 
d'Aubign^  commanded  the  forces  and  gained  many  victones 

1  So  he  is  described  in  his  marriage  contract. 


./ 


J 


20 


MADAME  DE  MAINTENON 


BIRTH  AND  ANCESTRY 


21 


II 


for  his  king  ;  but  after  the  assassination  of  Henri  HI.  he 
was  recalled  to  assist  at  the  councils.  The  League  declared 
old  Cardinal  de  Bourbon  king ;  but  the  King  of  Navarre  had 
him  arrested  and  sent  in  charge  of  d'Aubigne  to  Mallezais. 

An  immense  sum  of  money  and  the  governorship  of 
Belle  Isle  was  offered  to  d'Aubigne,  if  he  would  connive  at 
the  escape  of  his  prisoner.  But  he  replied  to  the  envoy  : 
"  Belle  Isle  would  suit  me  well  as  a  place  to  enjoy  the  fruits 
of  treason,  were  it  not  that  my  conscience  would  accom- 
pany me.  Go  !  and  if  you  had  not  come  here  with  a  safe 
conduct,  I  would  have  sent  you  bound  hand  and  foot  to 
my  master." 

The  strength  of  his  religious  principles  overpowered 
even  his  great  love  for  his  master  ;  and  when  Henri  IV.,  in 
order  to  obtain  the  crown  of  France,  renounced  the 
Protestant  rehgion  d'Aubigri6  at  once  quitted  his  service 
and  retired  to  his  estates.  But  after  a  time  his  retreat 
became  insupportable  ;  he  rejoined  the  army  and  in  the 
capacity  of  Lieutenant-General  distinguished  himself  at 
the  siege  of  Rouen. 

The  King  welcomed  him  warmly  and  showed  him  the  scar 
on  his  mouth,  caused  by  an  attempt  to  assassinate  him  (the 
King). 

"  Sire,"  said  d'Aubigne,  "  hitherto  you  have  only  re- 
nounced God  with  your  hps,  and  it  has  sufficed  for  Him  to 
pierce  your  lips ;  but  if  some  day  you  renounce  him  in 
your  heart,  he  will  pierce  that  heart."  These  words  must 
have  been  remembered  when  a  few  years  later  Henri  IV. 
was  stabbed  to  death  by  an  assassin. 

After  the  death  of  the  King,  d'Aubigne  did  not  join  the 
party  of  the  Regent,  Maria  de  Medici,  but  associated  him- 
self with  some  other  great  lords,  who  were  malcontents  and 


i 


f 


did  not  cease  to  maintam  the  privileges  of  the  Reformed 
religion,  and  he  finally  rendered  himself  formidable  to  the 
Court. 

Later,  when  the  forces  of  Louis  XIIL  were  successful  in 
subduing  the  armies  of  the  Reformers,  d'Aubigne  retired  to 
Geneva  where  he  bought  land  and  built  a  castle  that  cost 
11,000  crowns  ;  a  large  sum  for  those  days.  At  Geneva 
he  married  for  the  second  time,  his  second  wife  being  a 
wealthy  young  widow,  Madame  de  Barbani,  of  the  noble 
family  of  Burlamacqui.  She  had  no  children  of  her  own, 
but  became  tenderly  attached  to  those  of  her  husband  by 
his  first  wife,  Mdlle.  Suzanne  de  Lezay,  daughter  of  the 
most  noble  and  mighty  Seigneur  Ambrose  de  Lezay  and  his 
wife  Madame  Renee  de  Vivonne. 

So  she  is  described  in  the  marriage  contract. 

By  her  d'Aubignd  had  one  son  and  two  daughters.  One 
of  the  daughters  married  the  Marquis  de  Villette  ;  the 
other  M.  de  Caumont  d'Ade. 

The  only  son,  Constantine  d'Aubign^  (father  of  our 
heroine) ,  was  educated  as  befitted  the  brilliant  position  he 
was  heir  to  ;  but  he  early  gave  proof  of  having  an  immoral, 
vicious  and  treacherous  disposition.  He  soon  got  tired  of 
studying  at  the  Military  Academy  of  Sedan,  and  escaped  to 
Holland,  where  he  attained  notoriety  by  his  excesses. 

He  married  (after  returning  to  France)  a  rich  widow,  la 
Baronne  de  Chatelaillon,  whose  reputation  was  almost  as 
bad  as  his  own. 

One  day  he  surprised  her  in  flagrante  delicto  and  killed  her 
and  her  lover  with  his  own  hand.^ 

*  These  facts  rest  on  the  authority  of  a  letter  of  Theodore  Agrippa 
d'Aubign6,  which  was  in  the  possession  of  his  granddaughter  (de 
Caumont  d'Ade)  who  showed  it  to  Madame  de  Maintenon. 


\ 


22 


MADAME  DE  MAINTENON 


BIRTH  AND  ANCESTRY 


23 


He  fled  from  the  vengeance  of  her  family  and  took 
refuge  at  Geneva  with  his  father,  who  procured  his  son's 
pardon  and  exemption  from  pimishment,  on  ground  of 
provocation. 

Later  on  Constantine  d*Aubign6  went  to  England,  where 
he  contrived  to  obtain  the  confidence  of  the  king,  Charles  I., 
who  empowered  him  to  ask  his  famous  father  to  undertake 
the  command  of  the  expedition  which  the  EngHsh  were 
about  to  send  to  assist  the  Protestants  of  La  Rochelle,  then 
besieged  by  the  army  of  Louis  XHL  Constantine  d'Au- 
bigne  conveyed  these  proposals  to  his  father,  and  then  be- 
trayed the  scheme  to  Cardinal  Richelieu,  who  rewarded  him 
by  confiscating  the  government  of  Mallezais  and  the 
Barony  of  Surineau,  which  belonged  to  Theodore  Agrippa 
d'Aubigne,  and  bestowing  them  on  his  son.  Theodore 
Agrippa  solemnly  disinherited  his  son  and  forbade  him  his 
presence. 

After  obtaining  the  government  of  Mallezais,  Constantine 
d'Aubigne  resumed  his  extravagant  habits,  and  in  order  to 
relieve  himself  of  the  difficulties  in  which  his  debts  involved 
him,  he  resorted  to  coining  false  money.  Whether  it  was 
for  that  offence  only,  or,  as  some  others  think,  for  com- 
phcity  in  the  plots  of  Gaston  d'Orleans,  which  ended  in  the 
submission  of  the  Due  d'Orleans,  the  execution  of  Mont- 
morency, and  imprisonment  of  less  important  accomphces, 
is  uncertain,  but  about  1625  he  was  imprisoned  at  Chateau 
Trompette,  Bordeaux.  He  was  not  kept  a  strict  prisoner, 
for  documents  still  extant  prove  that  he  was  able  to 
associate  with  some  of  the  residents  of  the  town,  that  he 
contracted  gaming  debts,  composed  verses,  and  won  the 
affection  of  Jeanne  de  Cardilhac,  daughter  of  the  Governor 
of  the  Prison. 


^ 


h 


In  spite  of  his  bad  disposition  Constantine  d'Aubigne 
possessed  the  art  of  pleasing,  and  was  a  handsome  man 
with  fascinating  manners. 

His  marriage  with  Jeanne  de  Cardilhac  took  place  on 
6th  December  1627.    This  date  is  verified  by  the  Marriage 
Contract^  drawn  up  by  Justian,  Notary  of  Bordeaux  and 
was  in  existence  in  1798,  when  La  Beaumelle  wrote  his 
Memoires.     Constantine  d'Aubigne  seems  to  have  been 
frequently  transferred  from  one  prison  to  another.    From 
Bordeaux  he  was  moved  to  Poitiers,  and  in  1635  he  was  in 
the  Conciergerie  de  Niort.    During  these  years  his  wife 
seems  to  have  borne  him  company,  though  it  is  probable 
she  was  not  actually  Uving  in  the  prison  buildings  with  him. 
Indeed  there  is  a  record  that  while  he  was  imprisoned  at 
Poitiers,  she  was  lodging  near  by,  at  a  pastrycook's  house. 
During  these  years  two  sons  had  been  bom  to  them.    The 
year  after  her  marriage  Madame  d'Aubigne  had  obtained 
from  the  tribunal  at  Niort  an  act  of  "  separation  des  biens  " 
— 1.5.  the  right  to  hold  property  as  her  own,  distinct  from 
her  husband's.     She  may  have  done  this  in  order  not  to  be 
liable  for  her  husband's  debts. 

At  Niort,  Constantine  d'Aubigne  was  not  imprisoned  at 
the  Castle  but  in  the  "  Conciergerie  du  Palais  de  Niort " 
—that  is,  in  the  prisons  annexed  to  the  Palais  de  Justice. 

An  old  document  belonging  to  the  Mayor  of  Niort,  dated 
1742,  states  that  two  himdred  years  previously  the  Palais 
de  Justice  and  the  prisons  had  been  transferred  to  the 
Hotel  Chaumont,  which  had  been  sold  to  the  authorities 

iThis  document  annihilates  the  fiction  related  by  Voltaire  and 
others,  that  Jeanne  de  Cardilhac  connived  at  his  esape  from  prison, 
and  eloped  with  him.  and  that  he  afterwards  married  her.  These 
tales  were  invented  in  order  to  tarnish  the  origin  of  Madame  de 
Maintenon. 


24 


MADAME  DE  MAINTENON 


by  the  Due  de  Rochechouart  in  the  sixteenth  century  to  be 
used  as  a  palais  de  justice  and  prison,  and  it  was  used  for 
those  purposes  till  the  middle  of  the  nineteenth  century .^ 

In  a  letter  referring  to  her  husband's  imprisonment  at 

Niort,  Madame  d'Aubign6  says  :     "  When  I  was  lodging 

in  one  of  the  houses  surrounding  the  Court  of  the  Palais 

de  Justice."    So,  though  cicerones  of  the  present  day  show, 

on  the  second  floor  of  the  Castle-keep,  a  room  in  which 

they  say  Frangoise  d'Aubign^  was  bom,  they  have  only 

imagined  that  fact,  for  it  was  in  the    precincts  of  the 

prison  2  adjoining  the  Palais  de  Justice  that  in  October 

or  November  1635  Madame  d'Aubign^  gave  birth  to  a 

daughter,    Fran9oise   d'Aubign^,    who   was   destined   to 

experience  between  the  cradle  and  the  grave  all  the 

vicissitudes  of  fortune,  and  to  be  recognised  by  posterity 

as  one  of  the  most  remarkable  women  in  French  history. 

She  was  baptised  on  the  28th  November   1635.    The 

act  was  registered  at  the  Church  of  Notre  Dame  de  Niort 

and  deposited  in  the  municipal  archives.     It  is  couched 

in  the  following  terms  : — 

"  On  this  28th  November  1635  was  baptised  Fran9oise 
daughter  of  Messire  Constant  d'Aubigne,  Seigneur 
d'Aubigne  et  de  Surineau,  and  of  Dame  Jeanne  de 
Cardilhac. 

"Her  godfather  was  Francois  de  la  Rochefoucault 
son  of  the  high  and  powerful  Messire  Benjamin  de  la 
Rochefoucault,  Seigneur  of  Estissac  and  Maigno  ;  and 
her  godmother  was  Suzanne  de  Beaudean,  daughter  of 

»  See  Henri  Gelin's  "  Fran9oise  d'Aubign^,"  published  in"  Biblio- 
theque  de  Mercure  Poitevin,"  at  Niort,  1899. 

•  Only  part  of  the  Hotel  Chaumont  at  Niort  is  now  existing— the 
entrance  pavihon.  consisting  of  a  tower  and  large  hall— the  workshops— 
and  small  houses,  probably  of  prison  officials,  which  in  old  times 
surrounded  the  Court  have  now  disappeared. 


1 


I 


i 


i 


BIRTH  AND  ANCESTRY  25 

the  high  and  powerful  Charles  de  Beaudean,  Baron  de 
Neuilhant  ^  Governor  for  His  Majesty  of  this  town  and 
Castle." 

Then  follow  the  signatures  : 

Suzanne  de  Beaudean. 

Francois  de  la  Rochefoucault. 
Constant  d'Aubign^. 

A  remarkable  thing  about  this  baptismal  ceremony  is 
that  the  sponsors  were  children,  their  ages  respectively 
nine  and  ten.  The  godfather  was  the  nephew  of  the  Due 
de  la  Rochefoucault,^  author  of  the  celebrated  "  Maxims," 
and  the  godmother,  daughter  of  Baron  de  Neuillant,  a 
relative  and  old  boon  companion  of  Constantine  d'Aubign^. 
In  later  Ufe  this  child  married  the  Due  de  Navailles  and 
became  a  lady-in-waiting  to  the  Queen,  Marie  Therese. 

The  baby  may  have  been  given  the  name  Frangoise  out 
of  comphment  to  her  godfather,  whose  name  was  Fran9ois, 
or  to  Madame  de  Neuillant,  the  youthful  godmother  being 
her  daughter. 

Madame  de  Neuillant,  who  was  to  play  such  an 
important  part  in  deciding  the  fate  of  this  infant,  had  been 
Mademoiselle  Frangoise  Tiraqueau,  and  became  by 
marriage  Baronne  de  Neuillant. 

Although  generally  spoken  of  as  the  aunt  of  Fran9oise 
d'Aubigne,  it  is  rather  difficult  to  make  out  what  the  exact 
relationship  was.  T.  Lavallee  says  that  Madame  de 
Neuillant's  mother  was  aunt  of  Constantine  d'Aubign^'s 
mother,  but  she  is  not  mentioned  in  the  genealogy  ;  other 
accounts  say  that  Baron  de  Neuillant's  mother  was  aunt  to 
Constantine  d'Aubigne's  mother.     Madame  de  Neuillant 

*  The  name  is  generally  spelt  Neuillant. 

»  The  name  is  generally  spelt  RochefoucauW— but  I  have  kept  to  the 
text  of  old  document. 


^; 


26 


MADAME  DE  MAINTENON 


certainly  had  a  niece  who  married  into  the  Laval-Lezay 
famUy — whatever  the  relationship  was,  it  was  certainly 
acknowledged  on  both  sides.  In  spite  of  the  adverse 
circumstances  in  which  she  was  bom  Fran9oise  d'Aubigne 
was  from  her  earliest  days  associated  with  persons  of  noble 
birth,  though  one  can  well  imagine  that  the  relatives  of 
Constantine  d'Aubigne,  dreading  to  have  to  maintain  a 
penniless  family,  did  not  look  upon  the  birth  of  this  last 
addition  to  the  number  as  a  subject  of  much  congratula- 
tion. 

Theodore  Agrippa  d'Aubigne  was  dead.^  But  though 
he  had  disinherited  his  son  Constantine  yet  in  his  will  he 
had  left  the  estates  of  Landes  and  Guinemar  to  his  son's 
children. 

At  the  time  of  his  little  daughter's  birth  Constantine 
begged  his  sister,  Madame  Villette,to  come  to  the  assistance 
of  his  wife  and  her  infant.  She  responded  to  his  appeal. 
She  could  not  well  do  otherwise  as  her  family  were  receiving 
revenues  from  estates  that  had  been  willed  by  Theodore 
Agrippa  d'Aubigne  to  her  brother's  children. 

Madame  de  Villette  came  to  Niort  and  found  her  brother 
in  despair,  Madame  d'Aubigne  sufferingfrom  fever,  and  the 
children  half  famished.  She  took  the  two  little  boys  and 
the  newly-born  girl  home  with  her  to  the  Chateau  de 
Mursay.  Frangoise  was  committed  to  the  care  of  a  foster- 
mother — who  had  also  been  the  foster-mother  of  Madame 
de  Villette's  daughter,  who  afterwards  became  Madame 
de  St  Hermine. 

The  Chateau  de  Mursay,  which  was  to  be  the  home  of 
Frangoise  d'Aubigne  during  the  greater  part  of  her  youth, 

*  He  died  in  the  year  1630  at  Geneva,  aged  eighty.  His  epitaph  is 
still  to  be  seen  in  the  Cloisters  of  St  Peter  in  that  city. 


BIRTH  AND  ANCESTRY 


27 


t 


I 


was  brought  into  the  d'Aubigne  family  by  Suzanne  de 
Lezay,  wife  of  Theodore  Agrippa  d'Aubigne,  who  had  left 
it  to  his  favourite  daughter,  Louise,  Marquise  de  Villette. 
Theodore  Agrippa  d'Aubigne  enlarged  and  improved  it 
and  made  it  as  it  is  to  be  seen  to-day.  For  it  still  exists, 
though  now  inhabited  by  farmers.^  It  was  a  comfortable 
country  house  without  splendour,  though  Theodore 
Agrippa  d'Aubigne  was  honoured  by  receiving  there  a 
visit  from  his  master,  King  Henri  IV., and  it  was  a  favourite 
residence  of  his,  and  there  he  wrote  his  celebrated 
"  Universal  History." 

The  house  is  built  round  a  square  of  which  the  length 
is  greater  than  the  breadth — the  four  towers,  one  at  each 
corner  of  the  square,  are  joined  on  each  side  by  an  open 
gallery  with  an  iron  bulustrade.  The  building  is  on  a 
marsh,  round  which  runs  the  river  Sevre,  beyond  rise  low 
hills.  At  the  present  day  the  exterior  is  disfigured  by 
whitewash  and  new  red  tiles,  the  garden  has  run  wild  and 
the  chapel  in  the  south-east  tower  is  now  used  as  a  place 
to  keep  rabbits  in.  Inside,  mythological  paintings  are  still 
to  be  seen  on  the  walls  of  the  passages.  On  one  step  of  the 
principal  staircase  is  an  inscription  :  "  II  est  difficile  de 
s'elever."  There  are  large  fireplaces  in  the  rooms  and  on 
the  chimney-pieces  are  metal  plates  engraved  with  the 
three  crescents  and  three  roses  that  were  the  armorial 
bearings  of  the  Villette  family .2 

*  The  Villette  family  sold  Mursay  about  171 7  (before  the  Marquise 
de  Villette  of  that  day  married  BoUng broke).  It  passed  into  the  hands 
of  a  rich  shopkeeper  of  Niort,  named  Martin.  In  1800  it  belonged  to 
J.  A.  Martin,  a  Parisian  silk  merchant  whose  grand-daughter  married 
M.  NicoUa,  and  her  daughter,  Madame  Commailles,  was  the  owner  in 
1899,  when  H.  Gelin  visited  it  and  described  it  in  his  important  work, 
"  Fran9oise  d'Aubigne,"  which  has  been  quoted  on  a  previous  page. 

«  See  Henri  GeUn's  "  Francoise  d'Aubigne,"  pubhshed  Niort,  1899. 


IT. 


28 


MADAME  DE  MAINTENON 


Madame  de  Villette  treated  Fran^oise  as  one  of  her  own 
children,  and  the  years  of  her  childhood  must  have  passed 
happily  enough.  Her  aunt  always  retained  an  affection 
for  Const antine  d'Aubign^,  in  spite  of  all  his  transgressions, 
and  she  used  to  take  little  Frangoise  to  visit  her  father  in 
his  prison.  It  must  have  been  these  visits  which  gave  rise 
to  the  story  which  she  related  in  after  years  to  the  pupils  at 
St  Cyr.  "  I  used,''  she  told  them,  '*  to  play  with  the  little 
daughter  of  the  gaoler,  who  was  about  my  own  age.  Her 
father  was  very  fond  of  her  and  had  given  her  some  silver 
ornaments  of  which  she  was  very  vain.  One  day  we 
quarrelled ;  she  mocked  at  my  poverty.  I  replied : 
'  You  are  rich,  it  is  true,  but  you  are  not  a  young  lady ; 
and  I  am  !  '  " 


I 


r^ : 


CHAPTER   II 


GIRLHOOD 


DURING  the  years  that  Fran^oise  spent  with  her 
aunt  at  MursayandConstantine  d'Aubign^  was 
a  prisoner,!  Madame  d'Aubigne  passed  a  great 
deal  of  time  in  Paris  endeavouring  to  obtain 
herhusband's  release  and  the  restitution  of  his  property  and 
the  property  that  was  left  to  her  children  by  their  grand- 
father, though  the  Revenues  were  being  enjoyed  by  their 
aunts,  Mesdames  de  ViUette  and  Caumont  d'Ade.  M.  de 
Caumont  d'Ade  had  taken  possession  of  the  lands  of  Suri- 
neau,  agreeing  to  pay  the  most  pressing  creditors  of  Con- 
stantine  d'Aubigne  and  to  allow  him  a  pension,  but  did 
neither. 

^  It  is  difficult  to  disentangle  the  compUcations  of  Madame 
d'Aubigne's  lawsuits  (which  lasted  for  years  and  ended 
disastrously  for  her),  but  her  mother-in-law,  Theodore 
Agrippa's  widow,  as  weU  as  Madame  de  ViUette  thought 
she  had  right  on  her  side.  At  the  time  of  her  marriage 
Jeanne  de  Cardilhac  was  twenty-five  years  old  and  her 
husband  double  her  age,  he  was  fifty-one. 

She  appears  to  have  been  soon  disillusioned  as  to  his 

1  His  imprisonment  was  not  rigorous.  In  those  days  prison  officials 
received  no  pay,  but  made  a  Uving  by  supplying  food,  necessaries  and 
comforts  to  prisoners.  Many  prisoners  who  could  grease  the  palm  of  the 
gaoler  went  in  and  out  at  their  pleasure.  Records  of  the  day  show  that 
Constantme  d'Aubigne  associated  with  the  citizens  of  Niort,  and  his 
relative,  ex-Governor  Baron  de  Neuillant. 

«9 


i' 


J\ 


30 


MADAME  DE  MAINTENON 


character,  and  though  many  authors  have  depicted  her  as 
a  loving,  submissive  wife,  sharing  her  husband's  captivity 
and  utterly  devoted  to  him,  her  own  letters  prove  that  this 
was  not  the  case.  She  looked  upon  him  as  the  author  of 
all  her  woes,  and  only  wrote  to  him  when  business  made  it 
necessary  ;  he,  for  his  part,  only  wrote  to  her  when  he 
needed  money. 

While  she  was  in  Paris  petitioning  for  his  release,  her 
husband  and  his  sister  blamed  her  for  indifference,  because 
she  was  unsuccessful ;  and  in  reply  to  a  letter  from  Madame 
de  Villette  she  wrote  as  follows  : — 

"  Madame,  my  much  honoured  Sister, — I  know  well 
how  kind  you  are  to  your  relations  and  how  charitable 
to  your  neighbours.  You  prove  the  first  by  what  you 
have  written  to  me  about  your  brother,  but  if  you  would 
call  to  mind  how  much  cause  for  suspicion  I  have  in  that 
quarter,  you  would  not  blame  me  so  much,  and  would  be 
forced  to  acknowledge  that  my  being  so  easily  led  and  so 
trusting  has  cost  me  dear. 

"  I  much  regret  not  having  succeeded  in  obtaining 
what  your  brother  hoped  for  from  his  Eminence.^  He 
must  excuse  my  refusal  to  press  the  matter  of  his  transfer; 
if  it  turned  out  badly,  people  might  say  to  me  :  '  We 
told  you  so.'  2  I  have  experienced  which  way  the  official 
wind  blows .3  Let  your  brother,  therefore,  find  someone 
else  to  plead  for  him.  He  has  been  painted  in  dark 
colours  to  his  Eminence. 

"  (Signed)  Your  humble  and  obedient  servant, 

Jeanne  de  Cardilhac." 
Again,  in  a  letter  dated  23rd  July  1842,  Madame  d'Au- 

•  Cardinal  Richelieu. 

•  She  had  been  told  that  if  her  husband  was  set  at  liberty  proceedings 
would  at  once  be  instituted  against  him  for  various  misdemeanours. 

•  The  bad  opinion  entertained  of  him.     RicheUeu  said  to  her  :   "  The 
greatest  kindness  I  can  do  you  is  to  keep  such  a  man  in  prison." 


L-. 


.7 


GIRLHOOD 


31 


bigne  wrote  as  follows  to  Madame  Villette,  who  had  made 
known  her  brother's  complaints  to  his  wife  : — 

"  I  have  endured  the  bad  conduct  of  your  brother  in 
silence,  and  shall  continue  to  do  so  as  long  as  it  pleases 
God  thus  to  try  me.  But  as  to  what  you  write  me  about 
altering  my  decision  to  go  and  board  at  a  convent,  it  is 
too  late.  The  reason  of  this  is  my  extreme  poverty, 
being  as  I  am  without  a  penny  and  owing  money  wher- 
ever I  have  been — and  a  lady  having  undertaken  to  pay 
for  my  maintenance  there.  You  call  your  brother's 
transgressions  trifling,  though  they  have  reduced  his 
wife  and  children  to  the  miserable  condition  we  now  are 
in  !  To  conclude  madame,  my  sister,  it  is  time  that 
my  trials  should  make  me  prudent."  ^ 

After  the  death  of  Richelieu  in  1642  Constantine 
d'Aubigne  and  other  political  prisoners  were  set  at  liberty 
by  Mazarin.  He  went  first  to  Geneva  to  get  possession  of  a 
legacy  of  1000  florins  that  had  been  bequeathed  to  him  by 
his  stepmother,  Theodore  Agrippa  d'Aubigne's  second 
wife.  It  appears  that  Constantine  still  had  some  influence 
in  high  quarters  in  Paris,  for  in  1645  the  Compagnie-des- 
Isles-d'Amerique  appointed  him  governor  of  one  of  the 
West  Indian  Islands — the  Island  of  Marie-Galante — and 
thither  he  went,  accompanied  by  his  wife  and  three  children. 
Fortune  still  frowned  on  this  ill-fated  family,  for  on  arriving 
at  Marie-Galante  they  found  it  uninhabitable  and  the 
abode  of  hostile  savages ;  and  they  were  obliged  to 
take  refuge  in  Martinique,  where  Constantine  d'Aubign6 
obtained  some  subordinate  post. 
^\     Much  has  been  said  and  written  about  the  years  passed 

',      *  An   autograph   letter  pubHshed  by  M.  Bonhomme  in  the  Bulletin 

dxides  Bibliophiles  November  i860.      In  spite  of  the  facts  above  stated. 

eniher  husband  began  a  suit  against  his  wife  in  the  Court  of  Justice  at 

L^iort,  saying  that  she  had  obtained  money  from  his  estates,  and  begging 

hat  an  order  might  be  given  for  her  to  pay  him  an  allowance,  1642. 


Y 


/ 


32 


MADAME  DE  MAIN^TENON 


GIRLHOOD 


33 


by  Fran9oise  d'Aubign^  in  the  West  Indies,  and  when  she 
grew  up  she  was  known  as  "  la  belle  Indienne/'  and  many 
romantic  stories  are  current  as  to  her  adventures  in  going 
and  coming  and  her  Hfe  on  the  island,  but  as  a  matter  of 
fact  the  residence  of  the  d'Aubign^  family  in  Martinique 
lasted  rather  less  than  one  year.  They  had  left  France  at 
the  end  of  1646,  and  they  were  back  again  like  bad  pennies 
in  the  early  part  of  1647.^ 
/  There  is  a  letter  extant  from  Madame  d'Aubigne  to 
Madame  de  Villette,  written  from  Martinique  about  the 
future  of  her  boys,  in  which  she  says :  "  As  their  father  does 
not  condescend  to  trouble  his  head  about  them,  I  must 
be  both  father  and  mother."  »  Madame  d'Aubign^  was  a 
dehcate,  refined  and  well-principled  woman,  but  trouble 
after  trouble  had  made  her  somewhat  severe  and  cold  in 
manner.  Her  daughter  said,  in  after  Hfe,  that  she  could 
only  remember  to  have  been  kissed  by  her  mother  twice  in 
her  Hfe,  and  then  on  the  forehead.  Nevertheless  Madame 
d'Aubign^  was  anxious  to  instil  right  principles  into  her 
children.  The  boys  she  had  had  with  her  in  Paris  as  long 
as  she  could,  and  in  Martinique  she  devoted  herself  to  the 
children,  and  taught  Frangoise  and  the  younger  boy, 
Charles,  to  read  out  of  *'  Plutarch's  Lives,"  and  forbade 
them  to  talk  to  each  other  about  anything  except  the 
characters  therein  described. 

She  used  to  say  to  them  :  "  Your  grandfather,  Theodore 
Agrippa,  was  a  good  and  great  man  ;  who  was  loved  and 
esteemed  by  the  greatest  of  kings.  Future  generations 
wiU  admire  the  greatness  of  his  inteUect  as  displayed  in  his 

»See  "Paul  Scamon  et  F.  d'Aubigne,"  d'aprds  des  documents 
nouveaux  par  A.  de  Boislisle,  published  "  Revue  des  question 
historique,"  Paris  1894. 

•  See  "  Henri  Bonhomme,"  Bulletin  des  Bibliophiles,  i860. 


1 


writings,  his  courage,  and  his  devotion  to  his  king  and  his 
God,  and  in  admiring  his  genius  wiH  not  fail  to  praise  his 
integrity.     At  his  death  he  left  you  by  his  wiU  considerable 
property.!    Injustice  and  selfishness  have  deprived  you  of 
it,  but  by  honourable  and  distinguished  conduct  you  may 
perhaps  one  day  recover  the  position  that  should  be  yours." 
In  after  years  her  daughter  related  these  sayings  of  her 
mother  to  the  inmates  of  St  Cyr,  as  weU  as  two  maxims 
that  Madame  d'Aubigne  was  never  tired  of  inculcating. 
One  was  :  "  Never  do  when  alone,  what  you  would  not  do 
in  the  presence  of  those  you  respect."     The  other  :   "  In 
measuring  your  happiness  compare  yourself  with  those 
beneath  not  above  you." 

Many  previous  authors  have  described  the  death  of 
Constantine  d'Aubigne  in  Martinique,  but  the  documents 
discovered  and  published  in  1894  by  M.  de  Boislisle  prove 
that  the  d'Aubigne  family  returned  to  France  together  in 
the  beginning  of  1647.  There  are  letters  from  Constantine 
d'Aubigne,  dated  May  1647,  from  Orange,  where  he  was 
living  on  the  charity  of  the  Protestant  landowners  who 
revered  his  father's  memory.  He  died  there  in  August  of 
the  same  year. 

His  wife  could  have  felt  no  grief  at  his  death,  nor  could 
his  children.  As  for  Frangoise  she  always  said  she  looked 
upon  M.  de  ViUette  as  a  father .2 

1  On  the  death  of  Theodore  Agrippa  d'Aubigne,  his  two  sons-in-law 
took  possession  of  the  lands  left  to  Constantine's  children  as  well  as 
those  which  had  been  left  to  their  wives.  M.  de  Caumont  d'Ade  gave 
Surineau  to  his  daughter  on  her  marriage  to  M.  de  Sensac.  and  her 
descendants  possess  it  to  this  day.  Madame  d'Aubign^'s  lawsuits  did 
not  succeed  in  recovering  it,  nor  was  M.  de  Villette  willing  to  give  up  the 
property  he  had  annexed. 

«  Writing  to  him  after  Scarrion's  death  she  says :  "  Vous  6tes  I'homme 
du  monde  a  qui  j'ai  le  plus  d'obhgation  et  qui  m'a  servi  de  pdre  en  mon 
enfance." 


>^ 


34 


MADAME  DE  MAINTENON 


On  their  return  to  France  she  and  her  brothers  were 
received  at  Mursay,  while  their  mother  went  to  Paris  to 
prosecute  her  claims  to  the  family  property.  Madame  de 
Villette  was  a  kindhearted,  honourable  and  rehgious 
woman.  In  her  household  Frangoise  received  nothing  but 
kindness  and  was  taught  nothing  but  what  was  good,  she 
early  learned,  by  accompanying  her  aunt  on  such  errands, 
the  duty  of  alms-giving  and  caring  for  the  poor  and  the 
sick.i  The  country  nobihty  kept  to  rustic  habits,  the 
ladies  took  part  in  household  work,  spun  linen,  reared 
poultry,  etc. 

Fran^oise  was  known  by  the  pet  name  of  "  Bignette," 
she  spent  much  time  in  tending  turkeys  in  company  with 
her  cousin.  She  used  to  say  to  the  pupils  at  St  Cyr  : 
"  They  made  us  put  masks  over  our  faces  to  prevent  our 
getting  sunburned  ;  and  used  to  give  us  a  basket  contain- 
ing some  food  and  a  volume  of  Pybrac's^  poetry,  with 
orders  to  learn  several  pages  before  our  return ;  and  then 
sent  us  out  with  long  sticks  in  our  hands,  to  spend  the  day 
in  preventing  the  turkeys  from  going  where  they  ought  not 
to  go." 

Madame  de  ViDette  was  the  favourite  daughter  of 
Theodore  Agrippa  d'Aubign^,  and  was  attached  to  his 
opinions,  those  of  the  Reformed  or  Protestant  rehgion. 
The  Protestants  of  those  days  were  full  of  erudition  and 
zeal,  and  the  teaching  she  received  in  her  aunt's  house 
made  a  marked  impression  on  the  young  mind  of  Fran9oise 
d'Aubign^.     She  must  have  alluded  to  it  in  her  letters 

1  Fran9oise  herself  seems  not  to  have  had  the  best  of  health,  for  in  her 
letters  her  mother  speaks  of  her  as  ''  la  pauvre  galense." 

•  S.  de  Pybrac  (Pybrac),  King's  Councillor.  He  wrote  a  book  contain- 
ing advice  on  the  conduct  of  life,  and  another  called  "  The  Pleasures  of 
Country  Life,"  published  1597- 


GIRLHOOD 


35 


to  her  mother,  for  Madame  d'Aubigne,  a  devoted  Catholic, 
took  fright  and  wished  to  remove  Fran9oise  from  Madame 
de  Villette's  care,  and  to  place  her  in  a  convent.  Her  aunt 
refused  to  give  up  Fran^oise,  till  Madame  de  NeuiUant 
(mother  of  her  godmother)  interfered  and  an  order  was 
obtained  from  the  Court  to  remove  the  young  girl  from  the 
charge  of  a  guardian  who  was  making  her  a  "  heretic." 

Madame  d'Aubigne  committed  a  fatal  mistake  in 
removing  Fran9oise  from  the  care  of  her  aunt,  who  was  the 
only  one  of  the  numerous  relatives,  either  on  paternal  or 
maternal  side,  who  seemed  to  have  a  real  affection  for  her 
brother's  children.  It  was  probably  M.  de  Villette's  fault 
that  their  property  was  not  handed  over  to  them,  and 
Madame  de  Villette  may  have  thought  she  was  making  the 
only  amends  in  her  power  by  bringing  up  Frangoise  as  one 
of  her  own  children.  This  state  of  affairs  would  probably 
have  continued  and  Madame  de  Villette  would  have 
thought  it  her  duty  to  provide  in  due  time  a  sufficient 
dowry  to  make  it  possible  to  arrange  a  suitable  marriage 
for  Fran^oise,  and  have  thus  saved  her  from  the  saddest 
episode  in  her  Hfe,  her  first  marriage,  a  lasting  reproach  to 
the  guardians  who  allowed  it  to  take  place. 

On  being  removed  from  Madame  de  Villette's  care 
Frangoise  was  handed  over  to  Madame  de  NeuiUant.  She 
made  the  journey  to  Paris  in  a  basket  hung  on  one  side  of  a 
mule,  being  balanced  on  the  other  side  by  a  basket  of 
provisions  ;  the  driver  sat  in  the  middle  on  the  back  of 
the  mule,  which  was  harnessed  to  the  fitter,  in  which  sat 
Madame  de  NeuiUant.^ 

Madame  de  NeuiUant,  Fran^oise's  new  guardian,  was 

*  Madame  de  NeuiUant  possessed  a  coach  and  four  which  she  only 
used  on  great  occasions. 


\ 


36 


MADAME  DE  MAINTENON 


GIRLHOOD 


37 


very  different  in  character  to  the  amiable  and  affectionate 
Madame  de  Villette.  She  was  neither  amiable  nor  kind- 
hearted,  and  was  harsh  and  severe  in  manner.  She 
expected  to  get  much  credit  at  Court  for  her  zeal  in 
endeavouring  to  convert  this  young  relative  from  heresy, 
but  being  of  a  very  avaricious  and  parsimonious  disposition, 
her  household  was  not  a  comfortable  one,  and  in  return  for 
maintenance  she  exacted  from  Frangoise  a  great  deal  of 
household  drudgery — making  her  keep  the  key  of  the 
granary,  measure  out  the  com,  and  see  the  horses  fed.  She 
was  made  to  wear  sabots,  and  only  given  shoes  to  wear 
when  visitors  came  to  the  house. 

When,  in  spite  of  much  instruction  and  exhortation,  it  was 
found  that  Frangoise  persisted  in  clinging  to  the  Protestant 
religion  and  refused  to  abjure  it  at  her  bidding,  Madame  de 
Neuillant  became  thoroughly  incensed  and  sent  her  to  the 
convent  of  the  Ursuline's  at  Niort.  Here  Fran^oise  was 
very  happy,  and  became  much  attached  to  a  very  holy  and 
learned  Mother  Celeste,  to  whom,  after  she  left  the  convent, 
she  continued  to  write  weekly,  to  the  end  of  her  life. 

Madame  de  Neuillant  refused,  however,  to  pay  for 
Fran^oise  d'Aubigne's  board,  and  the  nuns  could  not  afford 
to  keep  her  without  payment,  so  they  sent  her  to  her 
mother,  who  placed  her  in  a  convent  of  the  same  order,  in 
the  Faubourg  St  Jacques,  Paris,  where  the  nuns  devoted 
themselves  to  the  education  of  poor  girls.  Here  Frangoise 
was  treated  with  great  severity  and  was  most  unhappy. 
Driven  to  desperation  she  wrote  the  following  letter, 
imploring  her  aunt,  Madame  de  Villette,  to  take  pity  on 
her : — 

"  Madame   and   Aunt,— The  remembrance  of  the 
wonderful  kindness  you  used  to  show  to  poor,  forsaken 


T 


children,  mduces  me  to  beseech  and  implore  you  to  use 
your  mfiuence  to  get  me  out  of  this  place,  where  my 
life  IS  worse  than  death  could  be.  You  cannot  imagine 
what  a  place  of  torment  this  house,  called  a  Religious 
House,  is  to  me  ;  nor  the  severity  and  cruelty  of  my 
custodians.  I  implore  you,  my  dear  aunt,  to  have  pity 
on  your  brother's  daughter  and  your  humble  servant, 

"  (Signed)     Francoise  d'Aubigne." 

Perhaps  this  letter  never  reached  Madame  de  Villette  : 
at  all  events  she  made  no  sign,  and  after  another  year  of 
exhortations  and  instructions  Frangoise  d'Aubigne  allowed 
herself  to  be  converted  to  Catholicism.^  Though  tradition 
has  it,  that  primed  with  texts  from  the  Bible  she  worsted 
a  learned  Father  of  the  Church  in  a  controversial  discussion, 
the  religious  convictions  of  this  young  theologian  in  her 
teens  ^  were  probably  closely  connected  with  her  love  and 
reverence  for  her  Aunt  Villette.  At  all  events,  at  her 
conversion  she  stipulated  that  she  was  not  to  be  expected 
to  believe  that  this  good  aunt  would  be  damned  because 
she  was  a  Protestant  ! 

After  having  made  her  first  communion  Fran9oise 
was  sent  away  from  the  convent  to  live  with  her 
mother.  Madame  d'Aubigne  had  a  little  lodging  in 
the  Rue  Toumelles.  She  had  nothing  to  live  on  but  a 
small  pension  of  200  francs  from  M.  de  Sensac,^  given  on 
condition  of  her  making  no  further  claim  to  Surineau,  his 
wife's  property.  Francoise  and  her  mother  supplemented 
this  pittance  by  the  work  of  their  own  hands— they  were 
both  skilled  in  all  kinds  of  needlework.  The  records  of  the 
movements  of  the  mother  and  daughter  at  this  time  are 

»  See  T.  Lavallee,  "  Madame  de  Main  tenon  et  la  Maison  Royale  de  St 
Cyr,"  p.  II,  published  (Paris)  i860. 
'  She  was  just  fourteen  years  old. 
*  Son-in-law  of  M.  de  Caumont  d'Ade. 


j^i*>^ 


38 


MADAME  DE  MAINTENON 


( 


somewhat  uncertain.  They  appear  to  have  been  some- 
times in  Paris,  sometimes  at  Niort.  About  the  year  1650 
Fran9oise  seems  again  to  have  been  with  Madame  de  Neuil- 
lant,  and  sharing  with  the  latter's  younger  daughter, 
Angelique,^  the  instructions  of  a  friend  of  the  family,  the 
celebrated  Che valierde  Mere — who  had  a  fondness  for  form- 
ing the  taste  and  the  manners  of  charming  young  ladies — 
and  his  verdict  on  them  was  sufficient  to  make  or  mar 
their  reputation  for  grace  or  charm. 

Although  she  was  only  fourteen  years  old  the  beauty  and 
intelligence  of  Frangoise  d'Aubigne  had  already  attracted 
attention.  In  company  with  the  de  Neuillant  family  she 
appears  at  this  time  to  have  gone  backwards  and  forwards 
between  Niort  and  Paris.  Her  elder  brother  had  been 
accidentally  drowned  at  Mursay,  the  younger,  Charles,  had 
been  placed  as  a  page  in  the  household  of  the  Marquis  de 
Parab^re,  a  relative. 

*  Afterwards  Comtesse  de  Froulay. 


J 


A. 


.J. 


CHAPTER   III 


II 


c  A  li  ii  o  rf  - 


Frotii  an  cngraz'ins  in  the  British  Museum 


»M-U--'»     •Jkfa* 


MARRIAGE 

PAUL  SCARRON  was  the  son  of  a  CouncUlor  of 
the  Grand  Chamber  of  the  ParUament  of  Paris, 
who  attained  some  notoriety  by  contesting  pre- 
cedence with  the  archbishops  at  the  funeral 
ceremonies  of  Henri  IV.^ 

He  was  a  rich  man,  but  had  married  as  a  second  wife  an 
avaricious,  designing  woman,  who  persuaded  him  to  leave 
all  his  property  to  her  and  her  children,  to  the  detriment  of 
his  eldest  son,  for  whom  he  obtained  a  Canonry,  but  made 
no  other  provision  for  him. 

Paul  Scarron  had  inherited  a  small  fortune  from  his 
mother,  with  which  he  bought  an  annuity.  This  annuity, 
joined  to  the  revenue  of  the  Canonry,  gave  him  an  income 
of  600  francs,  the  equivalent  of  24,000  francs  at  the  present 
day.  He  thoroughly  enjoyed  life.  In  appearance  he  was 
short,  but  well  made.  He  had  much  wit,  and  was  skilled  in 
all  social  acquirements  :  sang  well,  danced  better,  played 
the  lute  like  an  artist,  made  verses,  told  amusing  stories, 
and  had  such  high  spirits  that  he  became  one  of  the  most 
popular  personages  in  Parisian  society. 

He  was  only  required  to  reside  at  his  Canonry  for  a  short 
time  every  year  ;  but  during  that  time  he  kept  the  town 

1  Parliament  claimed  the  right  of  following  immediately  after  the 
coffin.  The  archbishops,  who  were  to  perform  the  ceremony,  contested 
the  right.  Scarron,  resisting,  was  arrested  by  the  Guards  sent  to  make 
way  for  the  ecclesiastics. 

39 


40 


MADAME  DE  MAINTENON 


MARRIAGE 


41 


If 


il 


ft!! 


and  the  neighbourhood  of  Mans  alive,  and  paid  no  attention 
to  the  remonstrances  of  those  who  urged  him  to  remember 
what  was  due  to  his  ecclesiastical  position. 

One  carnival  time  he  took  it  into  his  head  to  provide  the 
people  of  Mans  with  a  new  diversion.  He  made  his  servant^ 
paint  his  body  with  honey,  and  he  then  rolled  in  a  feather 
bed  (which  he  had  caused  to  be  unsewn)  till  he  was  covered 
with  feathers  and  looked  like  a  bird  shaped  as  a  man. 
Covering  his  face  with  a  comic  mask,  he  had  himself  taken 
in  a  sedan  chair  to  the  most  frequented  street  comer,  and 
there  carried  on  a  battle  of  wits  with  passers  by.  A  great 
crowd  assembled  and  at  last  someone  attempted  to  unmask 
him.  He  fled,  and  was  pursued  ;  -when  on  the  point  of 
being  captured  he  saw  a  bridge,  and  the  only  way  of  escape 
seemed  to  be  to  jump  over  it  into  the  river.  He  took  the 
plunge,  disappeared  under  the  water,  and  afterwards  hid 
among  the  reeds  on  the  banks.  Fatal  folly  !  Scarron  was 
perspiring  profusely  when  he  leaped  into  the  river.  The 
cold  water  checked  and  drove  the  perspiration  inward  ; 
his  blood  was  chilled,  and  the  consequence  was  rheumatism 
of  an  acute  type,  which  paralysed  his  limbs,  changed  his 
features,  and  affected  his  voice  which  became  cracked  and 
uncertain.  Nothing  remained  unaffected  but  his  sight, 
hearing,  and  witty  tongue,  and  his  inextinguishable  flow 
of  high  spirits.^ 

*  M.  de  Boisbsle  denies  the  truth  of  the  Mans  episode  and  states  that 
Scarron 's  crippled  condition  was  the  result  of  medicine  given  to  him 
by  his  friend,  La  Mesnardiere,  a  poet,  and  also  physician  to  the  Marquis 
de  Sable.  Scarron  was  suffering  from  rheumatism  and  fever  and  con- 
sulted La  Mesnardiere,  who  prescribed  pills  which  caused  a  contraction 
of  the  nerves,  and  this  malady  increased  gradually  till  his  death.  M.  de 
Boislisle  gives  as  his  authority  for  this  statement  a  medical  work,  dated 
1635.  which  he  found  in  the  Reserve  du  Bibliothique  Nationale. 

See  "  Paul  Scarron  et  Fran9oise  d'Aubigne,"  by  A.  de  Boislisle, 
p.  39.  published  (Paris)  1894. 


He  seldom  went  to  bed,  but  passed  his  life  in  an  arm-chair 
constructed  to  suit  his  infirmities.  Sitting  in  it  he  ate  his 
meals  and  composed  his  books.  Some  of  the  best  known 
are  his  "Travesty  of  Virgil,"  "Comic  Romances,"  and 
"Burlesque  Poems  and  Comedies." 

At  night  two  servants  carried  him  in  the  chair  to  his  bed- 
room, and  next  morning  back  again  to  the  reception  room, 
where  he  was  surrounded  daily  by  the  greatest,  wittiest  and 
most  polished  personages  of  the  city  and  the  Court. 

Scarron  had  two  sisters  :  the  eldest,  Anne,  married  the 
Sieur  de  la  Borde,  the  younger  one,  Fran9oise,  became  lady- 
in-waiting  to  the  Princess  de  Conti,  and,  led  away  by  the 
bad  example  of  this  profligate  lady,  she  herself  became  the 
acknowledged  mistress  of  the  Due  de  Tresmes. 

Frangoise  Scarron  ^  lived  a  great  deal  with  her  brother, 
and  the  Due  de  Tresmes  made  one  of  the  elegant,  intel- 
lectual, but  frankly  libertine,  society  of  which  Scarron's 
chcdr  was  and  remained  the  centre  in  the  days  of  the 
regency  of  Anne  of  Austria.  In  Paris  Scarron  moved 
from  place  to  place.  In  1642  he  was  living  in  the  Marais,  in 
1649  he  moved  to  the  Hotel  de  Troyes,  which  was  in  a  new 
faubourg  where  few  houses  had  been  erected,  and  was  at 
the  side  of  the  garden  of  the  Palace  of  the  Due  d'Orleans. 
Scarron  hadbeen  suspected  of  lampooning  the  Court  (he  was 
the  author  of  "  La  Mazarinade  ")  so  the  Queen  Regent  sup- 
pressed his  pension,  and  he  was  thrust  into  the  arms  of  the 
Opposition,  its  leaders  being  Gaston  d'Orleans  and  Cond^. 
The  Hotel  de  Troyes  was  nearer  to  his  patrons  than  the 
Marais,  and  this  was  a  consideration,  as  he  was  confined  to 

1  It  is  not  improbable  that  the  fact  of  Scarron's  wife  and  sister  having 
the  same  name,  Fran9oise,  may  have  led  to  a  confusion  which  credited 
the  wife  with  the  escapades  of  her  sister-in-law,  and  gave  an  opportunity, 
to  those  who  disUked  Madame  Scarron,  to  asperse  her  reputation. 


^^ 


\\\ 


42 


MADAME  DE  MAINTENON 


MARRIAGE 


43 


l!i 


the  house  on  account  of  his  infirmity.  It  was  also  near 
the  Rue  St  Jacques,  where  there  were  convents  in  which 
great  ladies  made  retreats,  and  in  one  of  which  Frangoise 
d'Aubigne  had  passed  some  time.  The  Marquise  de  Laval 
de  Lezay,  Madame  de  Neuillant's  daughter  by  her  first 
marriage,  lived  in  the  Rue  St  Jacques,  and  her  other 
daughter,  the  Duchesse  de  Navailles,  Fran9oise  d'Aubign^'s 
godmother,  lived  near  by.  In  the  S3.me  neighbourhood, 
too,  lived  Madame  de  Neuillant's  cousin  or  brother  (it 
seems  uncertain  which  he  was),  Pierre  Tiraqueau,  Baron  St 
Herman,  the  King's  Maitre  d'Hotel.  All  these  people 
frequented  Scarron's  salon. 

Fran^oise  d'Aubigne  and  her  mother  were  often  with 
their  relatives,  and  it  is  said  that  the  young  girl's  first 
introduction  to  her  future  husband  was  brought  about 
by  his  having  been  advised  to  try  a  warm  climate,  and 
having  heard  that  two  ladies,  relatives  of  Madame  de 
Neuillant,  had  returned  from  the  West  Indies,  and  were 
residing  in  the  neighbourhood,  he  sent  to  ask  her  to 
bring  them  to  see  him  and  to  give  him  information  as  to 
the  journey  to  Martinique  and  the  mode  of  Hfe  there. 
Fran9oise  was  certainly  too  young  to  be  applied  to  for 
such  information,  but  she  accompanied  her  mother  when 
the  visit  was  paid.  The  d'Aubignes  had  thought  they 
were  only  going  to  see  an  invalid,  and  were  amazed  to  find 
themselves  in  the  midst  of  a  brilliant  company.  Frangoise 
was  so  mortified  at  having  to  appear  before  such  society 
in  a  shabby  old  gown,  which  she  had  outgrown,  and  felt 
to  be  much  too  short  for  her,  that  she  was  covered  with 
blushes,  and  shed  tears  of  embarrassment.  The  young 
lady's  beauty  and  modesty  made  a  great  impression  on  the 
crippled  poet,  which  was  increased  by  Mademoiselle  St 


4 


Herman  showing  him  a  letter  that  Frangoise  wrote  to  her 
from  the  country,  and  he  was  astonished  to  find  what  an 
amount  of  wit  and  intelligence  was  possessed  by  the 
blushing,  shy  girl  who  had  been  brought  to  his  house  some 
time  previously.  Later  on,  when  he  heard  that  she  was 
staying  with  Madame  de  Neuillant,  he  begged  that  lady 
to  bring  her  again  to  his  house. 

Perhaps  Madame  de  Neuillant  cherished  a  hope  that  the 
graceful  figure  and  charming  face  of  her  young  relative 
might  win  the  heart  of  a  good  "  parti  "  who  could  afford 
to  overlook  her  want  of  dowry.  She  was  glad  to  take 
Fran^oise  to  the  salon  of  the  Abbe  Scarron,  where  she 
would  be  seen  by  influential  people  ;  and  the  brilliant  and 
polished  society  that  assembled  there  was  a  good  school  of 
manners. 

Scarron  himself  became  deeply  interested  in  the  young 
girl,  and  found  out  that  she  had  a  great  deal  to  endure  in  the 
house  of  Madame  de  Neuillant,  and  was  far  from  happy. 

One  day  he  said  to  her  :  *'  Mademoiselle,  I  know  how 
your  protectress  takes  advantage  of  your  gentleness  and 
your  defenceless  position,  and  yet  I  tremble  to  think  what 
would  become  of  you  if  this  old  lady's  death  should  leave 
you  even  more* unprotected. 

"  Your  beauty  and  grace  procure  you  many  admirers, 
but  you  are  not  too  young  to  understand  that  their  admira- 
tion for  a  penniless  young  lady  is  not  likely  to  lead  to 
matrimony.  In  a  situation  like  yours  I  see  only  two 
alternatives — i,e.  to  accept  a  husband  or  to  enter  a  convent. 
If  you  decide  for  the  convent  I  will  pay  your  dowry.  If 
you  do  not  wish  to  become  a  nun,  and  if,  in  spite  of  my  face, 
figure  and  helplessness,  you  will  consent  to  marry  me,  to 
be  my  companion  and  bear  my  name,  I  will  do  everything 


(ill 


44 


MADAME  DE  MAINTENON 


\ 


possible  to  make  you  happy  ;  and  I  guarantee  in  advance 
that  if  you  weep  in  my  house  it  will  only  be  on  the  day  of 
my  death/' 

Frangoise  d'Aubigne,  in  those  days,  had  no  inclination 
for  the  convent,  and  after  all  that  she  had  endured  at  the 
hands  of  relatives,  and  being  bandied  about  from  one  to 
another,  this  marriage  may  have  appeared  to  offer  deliver- 
ance and  peace. 

Was  she  attracted  by  pity  and  a  woman's  instinct  of  self- 
sacrifice,  or  were  she  and  her  relations  dazzled  by  the 
apparent  brilliance  of  Scarron's  position  ?  At  the  theatre 
his  plays  were  one  success  after  another  and  his  house  was 
frequented  by  aU  the  great  people  of  the  day.  In  rank 
there  was  httle  discrepancy  between  them.  Fran^oise 
d'Aubigne  was  descended  from  the  military  nobility, 
Scarron  from  the  civil. ^ 

As  to  fortune,  the  tradition  is  that  when  the  marriage 
contract  was  being  drawn  up  the  notary  asked  Scarron 
what  dowry  he  could  bestow  on  his  wife,  and  he  rephed, 
"  Immortality."  As  a  matter  of  fact  he  was  able  to  assign 
to  her  a  few  thousand  francs  secured  on  his  furniture  and 
effects. 

On  her  side  she  brought  him,  to  use  his  own  words,  "  A 
pair  of  large  eyes,  a  beautiful  figure,  a  fine  pair  of  hands, 
and  an  income  of  four  pounds."  / 

But  how  dared  a  helpless  cripple  of  uncertain  fortune 
aspire  to  the  possession  of  a  girl  so  remarkably  endowed 
with  grace,  beauty  and  wit  as  Fran9oise  d'Aubigne,  then 
in  the  flower  of  her  youth  ?  Was  he  the  only  one  with 
whom  such  charms  outweighed  the  want  of  fortune  ? 

*  Noblesse  d'epie  —  those  who  won  their  titles  by  miUtary  service. 
Noblesse  He  robe  —  those  who  won  their  titles  by  service  in  civil  de- 
partments, notably  law  and  judicature. 


MARRIAGE 


45 


One  thing  is  certain,  that  the  marriage,  which  will 
always  remain  inexplicable  and  unjustifiable,  was  not 
decided  upon  hastily,  nor  must  Madame  de  Neuillant  alone 
be  blamed  for  it.  For  many  years  all  biographers  stated 
that  at  the  time  of  the  marriage  Fran9oise  d'Aubigne's 
mother  was  dead  and  that  all  Madame  de  Neuillant  cared 
for  was  to  get  the  girl  off  her  hands. ^ 

This  has  been  proved  to  be  a  mistake.  Madame 
d'Aubigne  was  still  alive,  and  consented  to  the  alliance. 
When  the  marriage  was  first  proposed  Fran9oise  was 
thought  too  young,  and  was  sent  into  the  country,  but  it 
was  agreed  that  the  wedding  should  take  place  when  she 
had  attained  her  sixteenth  year. 

Scarron's  house  was  a  large  one,  and  a  friend,  a  certain 
M.  Cabart  de  Villermont,  son  of  a  parhamentary  lawyer, 
was  lodging  there.  M.  de  Villermont  had  been  a  great 
traveller,  and  had  known  the  d'Aubignes  in  Martinique.* 
He  it  was  who  induced  Scarron  to  take  part  in  the  G)lonial 
speculations  which  ended  so  disastrously.  He,  too,  was 
the  messenger  sent  by  Scarron  to  Madame  d'Aubigne  to 
demand  in  due  form  the  hand  of  her  daughter  ;  and  she 
(Madame  d'Aubigne)  appointed  him  her  procurator  to 
arrange  the  marriage.    In  the  Act  of  Procuration  ^  Jeanne 

^  There  had  been  great  uncertainty  about  the  marriage  till  1859,  when 
M.  Victor  Cousin,  pubUshed  in  the  Appendix  to  his  "  Madame  de  Sable," 
a  document  which  throws  a  new  hght  on  it.  It  was  repi"oduced  in  the 
"  Intermediare  des  Chercheurs,"  1870,  and  by  M.  Morillot,  1888,  in  a  note 
to  his  "  Scarron  and  Le  Genre  Burlesque." 

*  In  after  years  Madame  de  Maintenon  did  him  a  service.  He  had 
been  Governor  of  Cayenne  and  Hy^re.  His  right  to  the  titles  of  Messire 
and  Chevalier  was  challenged  and  she  induced  the  King  to  order  the 
proceedings  to  stop. 

'  This  document  was  copied  from  the  Registers  at  the  Chatelet  by 
M.  Campardon,  Head  of  the  Judicial  section  of  the  National  Archives, 
who  gave  it  to  M,  Boislisle.  He  has  published  it  in  his  interesting  work 
of  research  "  Paul  Scarron  et  F.  d'Aubigne,"  previously  referred  to. 


/T 


46 


MADAME  DE  MAINTENON 


MARRIAGE 


47 


d'Aubigne  (described  as  widow  of  the  high  and  powerful 
Seigneur  C.  d'Aubigne,  generally  hving  at  Niort,  but  at 
the  time  of  the  drawing  up  of  this  document  at  the  house 
of  M.  Joly/  in  Bordeaux,  he  being  Chancellor  of  the 
Parliament  of  Bordeaux)— constitutes  Esprit  Cabart  de 
Villermont  her  procurator  to  arrange  the  marriage  between 
her  daughter,  Fran9oise  d'Aubigne,  demoiselle,  and  M. 
Scarron,  dated  19th  February  1652. 

Madame  d'Aubigne  was  not  present  at  the  marriage 
ceremony,  and  there  is  no  further  record  of  her  having 
any  intercourse  with  her  daughter,  or  of  her  own  Hfe,  and 
it  is  supposed  that  she  died  about  this  time. 

The  marriage  took  place  on  the  4th  or  5th  April  1642. 
The  contract  was  drawn  up  by  Pierre  de  Riviere  (the 
Tiraqueau's  lawyer)  and  Councillor  Deslandes  Payen,  a 
colleague  of  Scarron's  father  and  a  devoted  friend  of  the 
son,  and  signed  at  the  house  of  M.  St  Herman,  where 
Madame  de  Neuillant  and  Fran^oise  d'Aubigne  were 
staying.     The  signatures  were  as  under  : 


Cabart. 


P.    Scarron. 

F.  D'AUBIGNfi. 

TiRAQUEAU  DE  St  HeRMAN. 

De  Cande. 
Le  Boucher.  De  Riviere. 

dated  afternoon  of  4th  April  1652. 


There  are  no  records  of  the  marriage  either  in  the 
Parish  Church,  St  Come,  or  on  the  Parish  Register.  So  it 
may  have  been  only  a  civil  ceremony  .2     But  tradition  has 

1  M.  Joly  was  a  near  relative  of  Constantine  d'Aubigne. 
•  A  clause  in  the  contract   says  :    "The  said  Paul  Scarron  and  de- 
moiselle Francoise  d'Aubigne  promise  to  take  each  other  as  husband 


it  that  the  religious  ceremony  took  place  in  Scarron's 
house,  in  his  private  oratory ,1  which  was  draped  with 
beautiful  stuff  by  his  friends,  Mesdames  Fiesque  and 
Pomereau,  and  the  service  was  read  by  the  Almoner  of 
Councillor  Deslandes  Payen. 

It  has  been  often  stated  that  the  dress  Francoise 
d'Aubigne  wore  on  her  wedding  day  was  lent  to  her 
by  a  friend,  Mademoiselle  de  Pons,  niece  of  Marechal 

d'Albret. 

This  young  lady  married  the  Marquis  d'Hudicourt  and 
retained  the  friendship  of  Francoise  d'Aubigne  all  her  Hfe 
long,  although  their  dispositions  were  very  different  and 
not  apparently  congenial. 

As  to  the  relations  of  the  newly  married  pair,  the  wife  in 
after  Hfe  said  of  this  marriage  :  *'  In  it  there  was  very  Httle 
of  the  heart,  and  nothing  of  the  body." 

And  in  writing  to  her  brother,  Charles  d'Aubign^,  about 
his  marriage,  she  said  :  "  Perhaps  you  may  think  it 
strange  that  I  who  have  never  been  married  should  offer 
you  advice  on  the  subject."  She,  however,  saw  some  good 
qualities  in  Scarron,  for  she  said  of  him  :  "  He  had  a  good 
heart.  I  cured  him  of  licentious  talk.  Everyone  admired 
his  wit.  Though  he  was  without  fortune  or  other  attrac- 
tions he  drew  the  best  of  society  to  his  house.  He  was  not 
really  vicious,  but  few  gave  him  credit  for  his  real  goodness 

of  heart." 

Underneath  his  buffoonery,  Scarron  had  a  stratum  of 
generous  feeling  and  genuine  affection  and  admiration  for 
his  young  wife.     He  perfected  her  education  ;   with  him 

and  wife  according  to  the  marriage  law,  and  to  have  the  marriage 
solemnised  by  our  Holy  Mother  the  Church  whenever  either  of  them 
shall  demand  this  of  the  other. 

1  He  often  mentions  this  oratory  in  his  letters. 


I 


48 


MADAME  DE  MAINTENON 


MARRIAGE 


49 


she  studied  Latin,  Spanish  and  Italian,  so  that  she  could 
both  read  and  write  those  languages. 

Soon  after  his  marriage  Scarron  took  his  young  wife 
into  the  country,  to  Touraine.     He  had  been  carrying  on  a 
lawsuit  against  his  step  brothers  and  sisters  to  recover 
some  property  left  by  his  father.     It  was  decided  in  his 
favour  so  far  as  the  small  estates  of  Riviere  and  Fougerets, 
near  Amboise,  were  concerned  ;   and  accompanied  by  his 
wife  he  went  to  take  possession  of  them.     The  Scarrons 
remained  in  the  provinces  till  the  beginning  of  the  following 
year,  1653,  when  they  returned  to  Paris  and  after  staying 
with  his  eldest  sister,  Frangoise,  they  took  the  greater  part 
of  a  house  in  the  Marais,  Rue  Neuve  St  Louis.^     They 
hired  it  for  three  years,  but  eventually  they  remained  there 
until  Scarron's  death,  six  years  later.   It  was  a  comfortable 
abode  of  two  storeys  and  necessitated  a  fair  number  of 
servants.  It  was  well  and  even  luxuriantly  furnished.2  Per- 
haps some  of  the  contents  were  wedding  presents — we  hear 
of  a  suite  of  furniture  with  yellow  damask,  of  arm-chairs 
and  sofas,  and  tables  ;    walls  hung  with  tapestry  repre- 
senting scenes  from  the  Old  Testament,  some  other  por- 
traits, and  a  Venetian  glass  mirror. 

Though  she  found  herself  in  a  society  of  which 
Scarron's  sister,  Fran9oise,  and  Ninon  de  I'Enclos 
were    shining    lights,    the    young    wife    from    the    first 

1  This  little  house  was  in  existence  in  1904,  when  M.  de  Boislisle  visited 
it,  and  is  quite  unchanged,  as  its  various  parts  answer  in  every  particular 
to  the  description  of  it  in  the  lease  signed  by  Paul  Scarron.  It  occupies 
the  east  comer  of  the  Rue  des  Douze  Portes  (Villehardouin)  and  its 
frontage  is  on  the  Rue  St  Louis  (Tureune)  and  bears  the  number  56, 
M.  Lecoq  was  the  proprietor  in  1904. 

«  An  inventory  of  the  contents  taken  at  the  time  of  Scarron's  death 
was  found  by  M.  de  Grouchy  during  his  researches  amongst  the  docu- 
ments of  the  "  Ancient  Notaires  de  Paris." 


knew  how  to  take  a  line  of  her  own,  and  to  make 
herself  respected.  Her  attractions  made  the  salon  of  ^ 
their  little  house  in  the  Rue  Marais  even  more  crowded 
than  formerly  with  visitors.  But  in  spite  of  her  youth 
there  was  an  air  of  dignity  and  candour  about  Madame 
Scarron  which  insensibly  affected  those  who  were  with  her. 
The  society  which  assembled  round  her  husband's  chair, 
seeing  her  blush  when  too  free  expressions  were  bandied 
about,  or  the  conversation  took  a  tone  of  licence,  instinc- 
tively restrained  themselves,  and  Scarron  cured  himself  of 
his  former  habit  of  indecent  conversation.  The  tone  of 
the  salon  became  that  of  the  harmless  liberty  of  the  polite 
world.  Madame  Scarron  made  for  herself  a  rampart  of 
prudence  and  reserve  ;  she  studied  to  maintain  a  charm- 
ing gravity  of  demeanour,  gracious,  yet  dignified,  which 
enabled  her  to  hold  her  own,  and  protected  her  from  the 
advances  of  too  ardent  admirers.  "  If  I  had  to  choose 
whether  I  would  displease  her  or  the  Queen,  it  would  be 
the  Queen,"  said  one  of  the  most  libertine  frequenters  of 
the  house. 

The  young  wife  often  wrote  at  her  husband's  dictation 
and  substituted  another  word  when  one  displeased 
her  taste,  and  it  has  been  remarked  that  "  Leander 
et  Hero  "  and  other  works  published  by  Scarron  after 
his  marriage  are  marked  by  a  restraint  and  moderation 
which  makes  them  very  different  from  his  earlier  writings. 

When  the  celebrated  Queen  Christina  of  Sweden  came  to 
Paris,  she  was  anxious  to  make  the  acquaintance  of  all 
literary  people  of  note  ;  she  visited  Paul  Scarron,  and  on 
taking  leave  said  :  "I  am  no  longer  surprised,  sir,  that  in 
spite  of  your  sufferings  you  are  the  gayest  man  in  Paris,  for 
I  perceive  that  you  have  the  most  amiable  of  wives." 
c 


V 


I  ,1 


\) 


50 


A 


II 


MADAME  DE  MAINTENON 


A  contemporary  author,  Sorbieres,  noted  for  his  im- 
partiality and  uprightness,  writing  at  this  epoch,  says  :— 

"  The  marriage  of  M.  Scarron  has  not  been  the  most 
sombre  part  of  his  Hfe.  He  chose  this  beautiful  and 
charmmg  person  that  he  might  refresh  himself  by  look- 
ing at  her,  and  have  a  companion  for  his  lonely"^  hours. 
The  infirmities  of  her  husband,  her  own  youth,  wit  and 
beauty  did  not  make  Madame  Scarron  forget  the 
pnnciples  of  virtue, 'and  though  those  who  sought  her 
favour  were  among  the  richest  and  most  highly  placed 
in  the  kingdom,  her  irreproachable  conduct  merited 
the  esteem  of  all  the  world." 

The  best  company  would  have  crowded  Scarron's  salon, 
but  Madame  Scarron  was  exclusive.  Her  husband,  in 
writing  about  his  wife  to  the  Due  de  Vivonne,  remarks : 
"  She  says  *  not  at  home  '  daily  to  princes,  dukes,  and 
officers  of  the  crown." 

Rank  and  riches  were  not  sufficient  credentials  for 
admittance,  those  who  were  received  must  also  be  witty, 
amiable,  or  great  in  character.  The  Due  de  Vivonne,  who 
was  considered  the  best-read  man  in  Court,  and  had  all  the 
Mortemart  wit  in  perfection,  the  great  Generals  Turenne 
and  Conde,  the  Marquis  and  Marquise  de  la  Sabliere,  the 
Duchesse  de  Richelieu,  Mignard  the  painter,  and  Made- 
moiselle de  Scudery  the  authoress,  were  always  welcome. 
All  talked  at  their  ease,  on  questions  of  morality,  literature, 
philosophy  and  current  events.  They  passed  judgment 
on  the  books  of  the  day  because  they  had  read  them. 

When  Madame  Scarron  did  not  like  the  company  that 
assembled  round  her  husband's  chair,  she  would  slip  away 
and  go  to  visit  some  of  her  poor  proteges,  for  though  she 
had  only  500  francs  (£20)  pin  money  annually,  she  managed 
to  spare  something  for  charity  even  then. 


MARRIAGE 


51 


Having  relinquished  his  Canonry  1  on  his  marriage 
Scarron's  income  was  diminished,  and  he  had  to  depend  a 
good  deal  on  the  revenues  of  what  he  called  his  *'  Marqui- 
sate  de  Quinet,"  which  were  uncertain.  Quinet  was  the 
name  of  his  publisher.  His  plays  and  books  were  success- 
ful as  a  rule. 

Scarron  had  established  suppers  where  the  guests  sent 
their  own  dishes,  and  the  host  and  hostess  only  provided 
the  sauce  of  witty  and  entertaining  talk.  Madame  Scarron 
had  already  shown  that  talent  for  conversation  which 
afterwards  became  so  famous. 

One  evening  the  servant  said  to  her  :  **  Keep  on  talking, 
madame,  this  course  has  failed."  And  in  listening  to  her 
the  company  forgot  all  deficiencies. 

In  studying  with  her  husband  she  had  learned  much,  but 
it  was  always  said  of  her  that  she  was  no  pedant,  and  that 
she  was  as  anxious  to  hide  her  knowledge  as  most  people 
are  to  display  it. 

She  was  most  careful  to  observe  all  outward  religious 
observances,  fasting  and  attending  Mass  with  great  regu- 
larity. In  later  life  she  said,  when  referring  to  these  days  : 
"  I  was  not  then  actuated  by  the  love  of  God.  I  wished 
to  be  esteemed." 

Her  sensitive  nature  probably  feared  that  the  burlesque 
reputation  of  Scarron  might  extend  to  her,  and  she  was 
exceedingly  anxious  to  acquire  a  solid  reputation  ;  she 
suffered  martyrdom  in  the  restraints  she  imposed  on  her 
youthful  inclinations. 

When  her  husband  was  ill  she  was  his  nufse  ;  when 
better,  his  cheerful  companion  ;  when  he  felt  well,  his 
secretary.     To  be  all  this  what  immense  self-control  and 

*  He  sold  the  right  of  succession  for  a  small  sum. 


II 


52 


MADAME  DE  MAINTENON 


X 


self-denial  were  needed  by  this  lovely  young  girl  in  her 
teens ! 

The  wife  of  the  great  Finance  Minister,  Fouquet,  was 
very  fond  of  Madame  Scarron,  and  sometimes  took  her  to 
her  country  seat,  Vaux,  where  she  went  to  refresh  herself 
after  the  fatigue  of  Court  life.  But  Madame  Scarron  made 
no  use  of  this  entrance  to  Fouquet 's  house  to  bespeak  his 
interest  for  her  husband.  She  was  very  early  imbued  with 
the  truth  of  a  maxim  that  she  often  quoted  in  later  life — 
i.e,  that  it  was  well  to  be  with  great  people  as  a  friend,  but 
not  as  a  protegee. 

M.  Scarron  died  in  1660.  He  said  that  his  only  regret 
was  the  leaving  without  means  a  wife  whom  he  had  so  much 
reason  to  love.  For  himself  he  rejoiced,  saying :  "No 
more  pain  and  sleeplessness,  no  more  gout.  At  last  I  am 
going  to  be  well."  All  he  was  able  to  leave  his  wife  was 
permission  to  marry  again. 

Madame  Scarron  was  at  this  time  twenty-five  years  old. 
The  celebrated  authoress,  Mademoiselle  de  Scudery,  has 
drawn  her  portrait  as  follows  : — 

'*  She  was  tall,  had  a  beautiful  figure  and  air  of  dis- 
tinction. Her  complexion  was  pure  and  perfectly  white, 
her  hair  of  a  hght  chestnut  tint.  She  had  a  well-shaped 
nose,  a  finely-cut  mouth  and  the  most  beautiful  eyes 
conceivable,  black,  brilliant,  expressive,  changing  from 
archness  to  sweetness  with  every  thought.  She  spoke 
simply  and  without  affectation  in  a  dulcet,  fluted 
voice,  that  was  one  of  her  greatest  charms.  Her  ex- 
pressions were  always  well  turned.  She  knew  the  world 
and  a  thousand  things  of  which  she  did  not  make  ^ 
vain  display.  She  did  not  pose  as  a  beauty,  though 
possessed  of  irresistible  attractions  ;  so  joining  the 
charms  of  virtue  to  those  of  wit  and  beauty,  she  merited 
the  general  esteem  which  she  enjoyed." 


1 


CHAPTER    IV 


WIDOWHOOD 


SCARRON  had  earned  plenty  of  money  by  his 
writings,  but  he  was  open-hearted,  and  he  lost 
a  good  deal  in  speculations  by  which  he  hoped  to 
improve  his  fortune,  so  that  when  he  died  he  did 
not  leave  enough  money  even  to  pay  his  funeral  expenses. 
He  was  buried  on  7th  October  in  the  Parish  Church,  St 
Gervas,  but  the  Parish  Registers  one  hundred  and  ten 
years  later  show  that  up  to  that  time  the  expenses  of  the 
burial  had  not  been  paid.  No  monument,  tablet,  or  in- 
scription now  remains  to  commemorate  him. 

The  condition  of  his  widow  at  this  time  may  be  best 
inferred  by  reading  the  letter  which  she  wrote  to  Madame 
de  Villette  :— 

"  I  have  been  quite  overwhelmed  lately,  and  the  death 
of  M.  Scarron  has  caused  me  so  much  grief  and  involved 
me  in  so  much  business  that  I  have  not  been  able  to 
write  to  you.  I  have  only  time  to  ask  you  to  send  a 
copy  of  my  baptismal  certificate,  which  it  is  necessary 
for  me  to  have.  Send  it  as  soon  as  you  can,  and  be 
assured,  my  dear  aunt,  that  whatever  my  condition  may 
be,  I  am  your  devoted,  D'Aubigne."  1 

M.  de  Villette  then  wrote  to  inquire  the  exact  state 

^  This  letter  is  preserved  in  the  Alfred  Morrison  Collection,  London, 
with  more  than  three-hundred  by  the  same  writer.  A  fac-simile  is  given 
in  the  catalogue  of  the  collection.  A  yellow  silk  tie  is  attached  to  it  and 
it  is  sealed  with  red  wax,  the  seal  being  the  monogram  of  the  husband 
and  wife. 

53 


54 


MADAME  DE  MAINTENON 


WIDOWHOOD 


55 


of    affairs,    and    his    niece    replied    by    the    following 
letter : — 

"  To  tell  the  truth  the  position  in  which  I  find  myself 
is  so  deplorable  that  in  order  not  to  distress  you  I  should 
have  to  avoid  giving  you  an  exact  account.  The 
property  M.  Scarron  has  left  is  worth  10,000  francs,  the 
debts  amount  to  22,000.  By  my  Marriage  Contract 
23,000  francs  are  owing  to  me,  but  the  Contract  was  so 
badly  drawn  up  that  though  I  ought  to  take  precedence 
of  other  creditors,  I  shall  have  to  take  a  share  equal  to 
theirs  only,  and  in  the  end  I  shall  only  get  four  or  five 
thousand  francs.  This  is  the  state  in  which  that  poor 
man  has  left  his  affairs.  He  always  had  some  wild 
schenie  in  his  head,  and  he  used  all  the  money  that  came 
,  into  his  hands  in  the  hopeof  discovering  the  philosopher's 
stone,  or  something  equally  improbable.  I  am  not 
destined  to  be  happy  ;  but  we  who  are  devout  look  upon 
these  trials  as  the  visitation  of  God,  and  we  place  them 
at  the  foot  of  the  Cross  with  complete  resignation."  ^ 

Standing  on  their  rights  the  creditors  left  her  nothing ; 
it  was  found  that  even  the  furniture  of  the  house  had  been 
bought  with  borrowed  money,  and  there  were  debts  to  the 
grocer  and  tailor  and  all  other  tradesmen  .^ 

Many  friends  offered  the  young  widow  a  home,  but  she 
preferred  to  retire  to  a  convent  belonging  to  the  Order  of 
the  Hospitalieres,  Place  Royale,  near  the  Rue  St  Louis, 
where  her  married  life  had  been  passed.  In  d'Expilly's 
Grande  Dictionnaire  Geographique  it  is  mentioned  that  this 
house  is  proud  to  remember  that  it  once  sheltered 
Fran9oise  d'Aubign^,  Madame  de  Maintenon. 

The  convent  had  rooms  for  boarders  of  distinction.  One 
such  belonged  to  a  relative  of  the  late  M.  Scarron,  the 

*  This  letter  was  first  published  by  M.  Honore  de  Bonhomme.     It  is 
not  in  Morrison's  Collection  with  the  others  acquired  from  him. 

*  When  Madame  Scarron  obtained  a  pension  from  the  Queen,  the  first 
use  she  made  of  it  was  to  pay  off  the  debts  by  degrees. 


'i 


I 


Duchesse  d'Aumont,  who  lent  it  to  the  young  widow,  and 
supphed  her  with  necessaries,  even  clothing  ;  but  Madame 
d'Aumont  made  such  a  great  parade  of  what  she  was  doing, 
and  talked  so  much  about  it,  that  the  widow  would  rather 
have  done  anything  than  continue  to  receive  assistance 
from  her  and  accepted  the  hospitality  of  Ninon  de  I'Enclos 
for  some  months,  while  awaiting  the  answer  to  her  petition 
to  the  Oueen  (Anne  of  Austria)  that  her  husband's  pension 
might  be  continued  to  her.     In  going  to  stay  with  Ninon 
she  made  a  mistake  which  subsequently  gave  jealousy  a 
chance  to  assail  her  reputation— thinking  it  was  a  case  of 
"  birds  of  a  feather."    But  Ninon,  who,  with  all  her  faults, 
has  an  enduring  reputatioii  for  sincerity,  bore  the  following 
testimony  on  the  subject :—'  She  was  virtuous  by  con- 
viction, as  weU  as  by  temperament.^    I  wished  to  cure  her, 
but  she  had  too  great  a  fear  of  God.     We  met  every  day, 
but  we  were  not  of  one  mind.     Had  she  followed  my  advice 
she  would  not  have  attained  the  elevation  where  you  now 
see  her,  but  she  would  have  been  happier." 

Ninon  de  I'Enclos  had  been  a  lifelong  friend  of  Scarron. 
His  widow  was  blamed  for  accepting  her  hospitality,  but 
there  was  no  reason  why  Madame  Scarron's  reputation 
should  suffer  on  this  account  more  than  the  reputations  of 
Mesdames  de  Coulanges  and  La  Fayette,  and  other  ladies 
of  unquestioned  virtue.  They  appreciated  and  sought  out 
Ninon,  who  was  welcomed  in  many  of  the  most  exclusive 
and  aristocratic  salons. 

There  were  not  wanting  those  who  had  long  admired 
Madame  Scarron,  and,  hearing  of  the  poverty  in  which  she 
was  placed  by  her  husband's  death,  thought  the  moment 

1  Another  well-known  description  of  her  by  Ninon  was :  "  EUe  f  ut  trop 
gauche  pour  I'amour." 


56 


MADAME  DE  MAINTENON 


WIDOWHOOD 


57 


favourable  for  approaching  her  with  professions  of  ardent 
love,  accompanied  by  humiliating  proposals.  To  such  her 
door  was  ever  thereafter  closed.  "  The  greatest  gentlemen 
of  the  Court  and  financial  world  attacked  her,"  said  the 
Chevalier  de  Mere  ;  "  she  had  but  to  say  the  word  to  leave 
poverty  and  misery  behind  for  ever."  But  she  chose  to 
bear  what  Bussy  de  Rabutin  caUed  "  her  glorious  and 
irreproachable  poverty,"  rather  than  yield  to  the  seduc- 
tions by  which  she  was  beset. 

The  Chevaher  de  Mere,  who  was  half  a  philosopher,  half 
a  courtier,  was  fond  of  making  protegees  of  young  ladies 
and  forming  their  mind  and  manners.  He  had  taken  a 
fancy  to  Fran9oise  d'Aubigne  when  she  was  living  with 
Madame  de  Neuillant  and  had  spent  much  time  in  talking 
to  and  teaching  her.  When  she  became  Madame  Scarron 
he  sounded  her  praises  as  a  prodigy  of  beauty,  virtue  and 
talent ;  and  his  opinion  carried  weight  wherever  he  went. 
When  Scarron  died,  de  Mere  wished  to  marry  the  young 
widow,  but  she  refused  and  went  into  the  country  with  the 
Marquise  de  xMontchevreuil,  who  remained  her  most 
intimate  and  valued  friend  to  the  end  of  their  lives. 

Within  a  year  of  Scarron's  death,  the  influence  of  la 
Marechale  d'Albret  ^  and  other  of  Madame  Scarron's 
friends  induced  the  Queen  to  consent  to  renew  his  pension 
in  favour  of  his  widow.  It  had  been  only  1500  francs, 
but  through  the  good  offices  of  the  Marquis  d'Alinquin 

>  Letter  from  Madame  Scarron  to  la  Marechale  d'Albert  — "  I  am 
deeply  touched  by  the  service  you  have  rendered  me.  and  what  charms 
me  IS  that  you  did  it  without  promising  to  do  so.  I  can  now  work  out  mv 
salvation  m  peace.  I  have  vowed  to  give  a  quarter  of  my  pension  to  the 
poor.  The  five  hundred  livres  given  to  me  in  excess  of  what  was  given 
to  M.  Scarron  ought  to  be  given  to  them  in  all  conscience,  were  it  only 
to  atone  for  the  falsehood  told  by  your  friend."  See  Geoffroy's 
Madame  de  Mamtenon  d'apres  sa  Correspondance  authentique  " 


(Marechal  Villeroy)  it  was  augmented  by  5000  francs,  and 
this  extra  sum  Madame  Scarron  set  aside  for  alms.  Now 
began  one  of  the  happiest  and  most  peaceful  times  of  her 
hfe.  She  took  an  apartment  at  the  Ursuline  Convent,  Rue 
St  Jacques,  where  she  had  been  confirmed  and  received 
her  first  communion. 

Here  she  was  waited  on  by  a  faithful  servant,  Nanon,  a 
woman  of  respectable  parentage,  who  followed  her  fortunes, 
good  and  ill,  from  youth  to  age. 

At  this  time  Madame  Scarron  read  much,  and  her  friends, 
the  Chevalier  de  Mere  and  Madame  de  Coulanges,  chose 
the  best  books  for  her,  and  sent  her  all  the  new  ones  that 
were  worth  attention. 

It  was  much  the  fashion  for  widows  or  ladies  whose 
husbands  were  at  the  wars  to  take  lodgings  in  convents, 
for  there  they  obtained  protection  and  yet  were  free  to 
visit  and  be  visited  by  their  friends.  Madame  Scarron 
continued  to  see  the  best  company,  and  frequented  the 
Hotels  de  RicheUeu,  de  Montchevreial  and  d'Albret,  where 
all  that  was  best  in  Paris  was  to  be  met. 

Mdme.  la  Marechale  d'Albret  was  Madame  de  Neuillant's 
granddaughter,  and  she  and  her  husband  were  both  very 
fond  of  their  young  relative,  and  their  carriage  was  often 
sent  to  the  convent  to  bring  her  to  the  Hotel  d'Albret  and 
take  her  back  in  the  evening. 

The  Marechal  had  been  an  intimate  friend  of  Scarron's 
and  was  with  him  in  his  last  hours.  He  had  once  been  too 
ardent  an  admirer  of  Madame  Scarron,  but  she  knew  how 
to  turn  lovers  into  friends  ;  and  staunch  and  true  friends 
Marechal  d'Albret  and  his  wife  remained  for  her  while  life 
lasted. 

The  Marechal  found  it  more  agreeable  to  be  the  friend  of 


58 


MADAME  DE  MAINTENON 


WIDOWHOOD 


59 


a  strong-minded  woman  than  the  lover  of  a  weak  one. 
Their  friendship  increased  with  years  and  grew  more 
intimate  as  he  reformed  his  mode  of  hfe.  When  he  died, 
in  1676,  just  about  the  time  that  Madame  Scarron  became 
Marquise  de  Maintenon,  he  wrote  her  a  most  touching 
letter  of  farewell. 

La  Marechale  d'Albret  was  stupid,  but  a  really  good 
woman,  one  of  those  of  whom  Madame  de  Maintenon 
said  :  "I  prefer  being  bored  by  them  to  being  amused  by 
others." 

Madame  d'Albret  found  the  young  and  beautiful  widow 
a  great  attraction  to  the  frequenters  of  her  salon.  There 
came  Madame  de  Talleyrand-Chalais,  afterwards  Princesse 
des  Ursins,  and  an  intinlate  friend  of  Madame  de  Main- 
tenon ;  Madame  de  Lafayette,  so  celebrated  for  her  ro- 
mances, and  her  friendship  with  the  Due  de  Rochefoucauld, 
author  of  the  "  Maxims  "  ;  the  Sevignes,  mother  and 
daughter,  their  cousin,  Madame  de  Coulanges  ;  Madame  de 
la  Sabliere,  the  patroness  of  talent ;  Mademoiselle  de 
Scudery,  the  celebrated  authoress  ;  Ninon  de  I'Enclos  ; 
the  lovely  Mademoiselle  Pons,  afterwards  Madame  d'Hudi- 
court ;  and  Madame  de  Montespan,  who  owed  her  intro- 
duction at  Court  to  the  Duchesse  de  Navailles,  Madame 
d'Albret's  mother.  There,  too,  came  la  Fontaine,  Moliere, 
Mignard  the  painter ;  Turenne  and  the  great  Conde  repre- 
senting the  army  ;  Abbes  Testu  and  Flechier  and  the 
renowned  Bossuet  representing  the  Church;  as  well  as 
most  of  the  fine  gentlemen  of  the  day,  including  the  Due 
de  Vivonne,  Madame  de  Montespan's  brother;  and  the 
Marquis  de  Villargeaux,  who  conceived  an  ardent  passion 
for  the  young  widow  which  was  much  talked  of  in  the  social 
circles  she  frequented  ;   but  when  it  was  mentioned,  the 


indifference  and  reserve  of  Madame  Scarron,  which  plunged 
into  sadness  a  gallant  not  accustomed  to  sigh  in  vain,  was 
also  commented  on. 

It  has  been  supposed  that  M.  de  Villargeaux  was  the  only 
adorer  by  whom  Madame  Scarron's  heart  was  really 
touched,  but  the  actual  facts  are  as  follows  : — 

De  Villargeaux  had  long  in  vain  besought  Madame 
Scarron  for  a  rendezvous.  At  last  she  feigned  consent ; 
but  on  the  day  appointed  he  found  on  his  arrival,  not 
Madame  Scarron  awaiting  him,  but  his  wife  and  child, 
whom  he  had  deserted  for  a  long  time.  This  meeting  was 
the  means  of  effecting  a  reconciliation  between  husband 
and  wife,  which  was  a  great  pleasure  to  Madame  Scarron, 
who  became  an  intimate  friend  of  the  wife,  and  though  it 
was  some  time  before  the  husband  forgave  her,  he  even- 
tually did  so  and  became  a  real  and  attached  friend. 

Madame  Scarron  used  to  stay  a  good  deal  with  her 
friend,  Madame  de  Montchevrueil,  whose  country  place 
was  near  Villar9eaux,  and  on  this  St  Simon,  who  hated 
Madame  de  Maintenon,  founded  the  calumnies  he  published 
with  regard  to  her  friendship  with  Villargeaux,  even  going 
so  far  as  to  state  that  the  Montechevrueils,  who  were  known 
to  be  the  most  particular  and  ultra-religious  people,  con- 
nived at  ilUcit  relations.  Rather  important  evidence  on 
this  point  is  found  in  a  letter  addressed  to  Madame  de 
Brinon,!  a  nun  who  was  staying  with  Madame  de  Villar- 
9eaux  :  the  event  that  occasioned  its  being  written  being 
the  death  of  the  latter's  second  son  at  the  siege  of  Candia. 

*'  Madame  de  Villargeaux  is  lucky  to  have  with  her  a 
person  of  so  much  intelligence  and  virtue  as  yourself.  I 
should  like  to  be  there  to  help  you  in  the  task  of  softening 

1  Afterwards  Superior  of  St  Cyr. 


I 


6o 


MADAME  DE  MAINTENON 


WIDOWHOOD 


6i 


her  sorrow,  but  I  do  not  know  when  I  shall  be  able  to  go. 
Meanwhile  give  her  my  kindest  regards."  i 

The  tone  of  this  letter  of  Madame  Scarron's  is  that  of 
one  offering  consolation  to  a  friend,  not  one  that  could  have 
been  written  to  an  injured  wife  by  the  transgressor,  how- 
ever bare  faced. 2 

Tallemant  des  Reaux,  who  had  once  suspected  her,  was 
converted.  He  wrote  :  **  She  is  a  prude,  though  Villar- 
9eaux  visits  her." 

In  the  salon  of  the  Hotel  d'Albret  Madame  Scarron  per- 
fected her  manners,  and  enlarged  her  intelligence  by  in- 
tellectual conversation.  She  sometimes  complained  that 
the  learned  and  clever  men  who  frequented  the  salon  would 
not  leave  her  to  amuse  herself  with  the  younger  ladies,  but 
took  her  aside  to  discuss  serious  matters.  She  would  have 
preferred  to  be  thought  less  strong-minded  and  left  to  the 
society  suitable  to  her  age.  But  she  exercised  self-restraint. 
Her  love  of  approbation  was  very  strong.  She  herself  says : 
"  There  was  no  trouble  I  would  not  take  in  order  to  be  well 
spoken  of.     I  did  not  desire  wealth  but  esteem." 

She  had  read  a  great  deal,  and  entered  into  all  the 
philosophical  speculations  of  the  day,  but  the  supreme  good 
sense,  which  was  in  her  such  a  prominent  characteristic, 
saved  her  from  extravagance.  She  wrote  at  this  time  : 
•  "  What  am  I  ?  How  great  is  my  audacity  !  I  want  to 
know  God  and  the  Universe  and  I  do  not  even  know  myself. 
A  short  time  ago  I  did  not  exist ;  a  few  years  more  and  I 

*  In  Geoffrey's  "  Madame  de  Maintenon  d'apres  sa  Correspondance 
authentique." 

*  Her  celebrated  letter  describing  the  King's  entry  to  Paris  with  his 
bride  is  also  addressed  to  Madame  de  Villar9eaux,  and  it  alludes  to  M. 
Villar9eaux's  fine  appearance.  Comte  d'Hanssonville,  "Notice  bio- 
graphique,  published  1902. 


shall  cease  to  exist.  Has  a  Being  of  such  limitations  the 
right  to  measure  the  Infinite  ?  The  Creator  has  endowed 
the  Creature  with  intelligence,  but  requires  the  creatures 
of  a  moment  to  feel  respect  and  awe  of  the  Everlasting  ; 
and  if  He  has  not  given  the  eye  of  man  power  to  gaze  with 
impunity  at  the  sun,  with  what  still  more  unapproachable 
rays  has  He  not  enveloped  His  own  light  and  His  most 
mysterious  Divinity . " 

Madame  Scarron  at  this  time  had  for  her  Confessor  the 
Abbe  Gobelin,  a  middle-aged  man,  not  eloquent,  but  with 
plenty  of  knowledge  and  soHd  judgment,  and  inflexible  as 
to  morals.  He  had  been  captain  of  a  cavalry  regiment,  but 
becoming  devout  he  forsook  the  world  and  entered  the 
Church. 

The  Abbe  Gobelin  thought  Madame  Scarron  a  model  of 
gentleness,  purity  and  virtue.  But  he  told  her  that  if  she 
had  a  fault  it  was  that  of  pride ;  pride  which  desires  to 
dominate  others,  or  to  flaunt  superiority,  was  not  the  pride 
she  was  guilty  of ;  but  she  had  a  large  fund  of  that  self- 
respect  which  is  a  legitimate  pride,  and  shrinks  from 
humiliation  and  degradation.  In  spite  of  the  Confessor's 
censure,  she  could  hardly  have  had  a  more  valuable  quality, 
for  it  was  this  which  carried  here  safely  through  the  in- 
numerable pitfalls  which  beset  the  path  of  a  lovely,  unpro- 
tected young  woman  in  the  age  and  country  of  seductions. 
It  was  this  self-respect  which  enabled  her  to  win  the  esteem 
of  the  world,  the  grand  world,  and  the  Court,  and  to  meet 
with  dignity  and  candour  the  gaze  of  all  because  she  had 
no  recollections,  no  revelations  to  fear.  One*  of  her  most 
cherished  maxims  was,  "  Nothing  is  so  clever  as  to  act  irre-* 
proachably  always,  and  with  all  sorts  of  persons." 

All  that  she  had  been  through  had  taught  her  self-control 


62 


MADAME  DE  MAINTENON 


WIDOWHOOD 


63 


V 


and  enabled  her  to  subdue  a  naturally  impetuous  dis- 
position. She  was  always  at  the  service  of  her  friends  ; 
her  beauty,  grace  and  desire  to  please  made  her  infinitely 
popular. 

Many  of  the  frequenters  of  the  Hotel  d' Albret  became  her 
lifelong  friends,  and  took  pleasure  in  visiting  her  in  her 
modest  retreat.  Her  pension  was  sufficient  for  her  simple 
tastes.  She  was  always  nicely  dressed,  in  simple  stuffs,  and 
even  had  money  for  charities.  She  was  such  a  good 
manager,  and  had  so  much  taste  that,  though  she  really 
spent  very  little  on  dress,  the  Abbe  Gobelin  thought  she 
must  be  extravagant  in  that  respect,  for  the  effect  was  so 
good.  When  he  remonstrated  with  her,  for  he  was  very 
anxious  to  check  any  tendency  to  vanity, she  replied:  "But, 
Father,  my  dresses  are  only  of  linen  or  the  simplest  stuffs ! " 

"  Oh,  well,"  he  said,  **  when  you  come  to  confession  I  see 
a  quantity  of  material  falling  in  graceful  folds  around  you, 
and  I  thought  it  must  cost  a  great  deal !  " 

There  was  a  good  deal  of  worldly  wisdom  in  her  choice  of 
a  plain  dress.  Many  years  later,  when  speaking  at  St  Cyr  of 
her  early  life,  she  said :  "  People  were  never  tired  of  admir- 
ing the  courage  of  a  young  lady  who  appeared  in  society  in 
a  dress  made  of  woollen  stuff,  when  it  was  not  the  fashion. 
But  I  preferred  a  fresh  stuff  dress  to  a  soiled  silk  one.  I 
had  not  the  means  to  vie  with  others  in  magnificence  of 
dress,  so  I  took  refuge  in  the  other  extreme.  My  linen  was 
fine  and  white,  my  dress  ample,  there  was  no  meanness 
about  it."  ^ 

The  death  of  the  Queen  Dowager  in  1666  replunged 
Madame  Scarron  into  poverty  and  difficulties,  for  pensions 

1  See  "  The  Papers  of  Mademoiselle  d'Aumale,"  edited  by  M. 
Hanoteaux,  1902. 


cease  with  the  hfe  of  the  giver.  Her  friends  do  not  seem 
to  have  been  very  sympathetic  in  this  new  trouble,  and 
told  her  that  if  she  was  in  want,  she  had  only  herself  to 
blame  for  having  refused  an  advantageous  offer  of  marriage 
about  this  time.  She  herself  alludes  to  this  in  a  letter  to 
the  Duchesse  de  Richelieu  : — 

"  Madame  ! — I  swear  as  in  the  presence  of  God,  that 
even  if  I  had  foreseen  the  death  of  the  Queen  Dowager 
and  the  loss  of  my  pension,  I  would  not  have  accepted 
that  marriage  ;  I  should  still  have  preferred  my  liberty. 

"  My  friends  are  very  cruel.  They  blame  me  for 
having  rejected  the  proposals  of  a  man,  rich  and  of  good 
position  it  is  true,  but  without  mind  or  manners. 

"  If  I  had  accepted  him,  I  should  not  have  had  to 
regret  to-day  the  loss  of  the  pension  on  which  I  subsisted, 
but  I  should  have  had  to  regret  my  solitude,  my  liberty, 
and  my  repose  ;  blessings  that  could  not  have  been 
restored  to  me  by  God  without  a  miracle.  If  the  re- 
fusal had  still  to  be  made,  I  should  repeat  it.  I  con- 
sidered and  weighed  all.  I  am  only  unfortunate  ;  and 
that  is  enough.'* 

Happily  the  apprehensions  of  Madame  Scarron  and 
her  friends  that  she  would  lose  her  pension  and  be  plunged 
into  poverty  again  were  not  justified. 

Many  stories  have  been  told  as  to  the  troubles  in  which 
Madame  Scarron  was  involved  by  the  King's  refusal  to 
renew  her  pension,  and  how,  after  a  long  delay,  in  which  the 
influence  of  all  her  important  friends  was  exerted  in  vain, 
it  was  at  last  granted  owing  to  the  intervention  of  Madame 
de  Montespan,  to  whom  the  King  could  refuse  nothing, 
and  effective  scenes  have  been  composed  describing  the 
interview  in  which  Madame  de  Montespan  introduced 
Madame  Scarron  to  the  King  and  he  accorded  the  pension. 

This  view  has  been  adopted  by  Voltaire,  Walchenaar, 


/' 


64 


MADAME  DE  MAINTENON 


WIDOWHOOD 


65 


If 


the  Due  de  Noailles,  who  copied  La  Beaumelle,  and  most 
other  writers  ;  but  in  i860  Lavallee  published  the  Memoirs 
of  Languet  de  Gery,  Archbishop  of  Sens,  as  an  appendix 
to  his  "  L'enfancede  Madame  de  Maintenon,"  and  he  (the 
Archbishop),  who  was  in  constant  intercourse  with  Madame 
de  Maintenon,  said  that  Madame  de  Maintenon  herself  had 
always  stated  that  M.  le  Due  de  Villeroy  obtained  the 
renewal  of  her  pension  from  the  King.  The  same  state- 
ment is  made  by  her  secretary.  Mademoiselle  d'Aumale, 
in  her  Memoirs,  and  by  Madame  de  Caylus,  her  niece,  in 
her  Souvenirs. 

It  has  been  left,  however,  to  M.  de  Boislisle  1  as  late  as 
1904,  to  settle  the  question  finally  by  pointing  out  that 
Anne  of  Austria  died  20th  January  1866,  and  that  the 
brevet  of  the  pension  renewed  by  Louis  XIV.  is  dated 
23rd  February  1666,  so  that  there  was  only  an  interval 
of  one  month  between  the  lapsing  of  the  old  and  the  grant- 
ing of  the  new  pension.  This  brevet  is  preserved  in  the 
Chateau  de  Maintenon,  and  is  given  by  the  Due  de  Noailles 
in  his  "  Life  of  Madame  de  Maintenon."  * 

"  Brevet  du  roi  par  lequel  Sa  Majeste  desirant  gratifier 
dame  Frangoise  d'Aubigne,  veuve  du  Sieur  Scarom,  tant 
en  consideration  des  services  du  dit  Sieur  Scarron  que 
de  ceux  que  le  Sieur  d'Aubigne,  son  aieul,  avait  rendus 
au  feu  roi,  Henri,  et  aussi  en  consideration  que  la 
reine-mere  avait  accorde  a  ladite  Madame  Scarron  une 
pension  qu'elle  lui  avait  fait  payer  jusqu'au  son  deces, 
lui  accorde  et  lui  fait  don  d'une  pension  de  deux  milles 
sept-cent  hvres,  le  dit  brevet  du  23  Fevrier  1666. 

"  (Signe)  Louis,  et  plus  bas  Letellier."  ^ 

*  "  Paul    Scarron    et  Francoise  d'Aubigne  d'aprds  des  doucements 
nouveaux,"  par  A.  de  Boislisle,  R^ue  des  Questions  Historique,  1904- 

«  Vol.  i.  p.  305. 

*  The  Chancellor. 

Royal  Patent  by  which  his  Majesty,  desiring  to  benefit  dame  Fran9oise 


This  recognition  of  the  services  of  her  grandfather  was 

probably    particularly  gratifying    to    Madame   Scarron, 

who    always    cherished    proofs    of    her    distinguished 

ancestors. 
At  the  time  that  this  brevet  was  given,  Madame  de 

Montespan's  haison  with  the  King  had  not  begun  and  she 

had  no  special  influence  over  him  ;  it  was  not  till  the  middle 

of  the  following  year  that  his  attentions  to  her  began  to  be 

noticeable. 

I  have  dwelt  at  some  length  on  these  details  because 
those  who  do  not  like  Madame  de  Maintenon  make  what 
they  call  her  "  ingratitude  "  to  Madame  de  Montespan  a 
special  subject  for  reproach,  and  the  fact  of  her  owing  her 
pension  to  Madame  de  Montespan's  intervention  is  often 
quoted. 

Many  writers  also  speak  as  if  Madame  de  Montespan  had 
raised  her  from  a  very  lowly  station  and  introduced  her  at 
Court,  while  as  a  fact  they  were  both  in  the  same  social 
"  set,"  and  constantly  met  at  the  d'Albrets. 

Madame  de  Maintenon  was  also  in  a  position  to  go  to 
Court,  when  Madame  Scarron,  without  any  special  intro- 
duction. During  her  husband's  lifetime,  Maria  Mancini, 
beloved  of  the  young  King,  invited  her  to  stay  with  her  at 
Bronage  ;  and  the  fact  of  her  being  on  intimate  terms 
with  this  niece  of  the  all-powerful  Mazarin  proves  that 

d'Aubigne,  widow  of  M.  Paul  Scarron,  both  in  recognition  of  the  services 
of  the  said  M.  Scarron,  and  of  the  services  rendered  by  her  grandfather, 
Sieur  d'Aubigne,  to  the  late  King  Henry  IV.,  and  also  because  the  late 
Queen-Mother  had  granted  a  pension  to  Madame  Scarron,  which  was 
paid  till  the  Queen's  death,  grants  and  gives  to  her  a  pension  of  2700 
livres 

The  said  patent  was  issued  this  23rd  February  1666. 

(Signed)  Louis. 

Letellier,  Chancellor, 


K\ 


66 


MADAME  DE  MAINTENON 


Madame  Scarron  had  the  entree  to  Court  circles.  We  hear 
also  of  her  being  present  at  the  fetes  which  took  place  at 
the  Louvre. 

During  her  widowhood  she  was  invited  to  the  f^tes  at 
Versailles  and  St  Germains. 

The  Gazette  of  i8th  July  1668  mentions  her  presence  at  a 
f^te  at  Versailles,  sitting  between  Mademoiselle  Scudery 
and  Madame  de  Merse,  at  a  table  presided  over  by  the 
Duchesse  de  Montausier. 

Most  authors  also  speak  of  her  witnessing  the  entry  of 
Louis'XIV.  and  his  bride,  Maria  Therese,  into  Paris  in  the 
company  of  the  Queen  of  England  and  some  of  the  greatest 
personages  of  the  Court .^ 

*  Boislisle  denies  that  she  was  on  the  balcony  with  these  great 
personages,  but  does  not  prove  his  case. 


h 


\S^Cadamc  dc  ^Jiontejpan 


..■•i 


From  an  cn^ravins  in  the  Hritis/i  Musttoit 


CHAPTER   V 

BECOMES  GOUVERNANTE   TO  THE   KING'S   CHILDREN 

ATHfiNAIS  DE  MORTEMART,Mademoiselle  de 
Tonnai  Chareute,  afterwards  Marquise  de 
Montespan,  was  considered  one  of  the  most 
brilliantly  beautiful  women  in  France.  She 
was  appointed  lady-in-waiting  to  the  young  bride  of 
Louis  XIV.,  and  after  a  time  supplanted  La  Valliere  in 
his  favour  and  became  his  acknowledged  mistress.  Her 
husband,  the  Marquis  de  Montespan,  instituted  proceed- 
ings for  the  annulling  of  his  marriage,  but  without  success, 
for  the  Pope  feared  to  offend  the  King  of  France.  De 
Montespan  then  went  into  deep  mourning,  draped  his 
carriages  and  horses  with  black,  gave  orders  for  a  funeral 
service  to  be  held  in  his  parish  church,  to  which  he  invited 
all  the  neighbourhood,  saying  that  his  wife  was  dead.  His 
outbursts  of  wrath  only  amused  the  King,  who  said  to 
Madame  de  Montespan  :  **  Now  that  he  has  buried  you 
it  is  to  be  hoped  that  he  will  let  you  rest  in  peace." 

When,  however,  the  time  for  the  birth  of  Madame  de 
Montespan's  first  child  was  approaching,  the  King  heard  of 
it  with  anxiety  and  misgiving,  and  said  that  the  strictest 
secrecy  must  be  observed,  and  that  somebody  must  be 
found  who  could  be  relied  on  to  take  charge  of  the  infant 
and  to  exercise  the  discretion  and  reserve  indispensable  in 
the  circumstances  under  which  the  King's  child  was  to  be 
born. 


68  MADAME  DE  MAINTENON 

Madame  de  Montespan  probably  remembered,  and  also 
knew  that  the  world  would  not  forget,  that  she  had  stated 
publicly,  in  reference  to  La  Valli^re's  connection  with  the 
King  :  "  If  I  had  the  misfortune  to  do  as  she  has  done, 
and  to  have  caused  such  sorrow  to  the  Queen,  I  would 
never  show  myself  again  all  the  days  of  my  Ufe,  and  I 
should  perish  of  shame."  Perhaps  the  remembrance  of 
these  words  made  her  particularly  anxious  to  conceal  from 
the  Court  the  birth  of  the  expected  child. 

Madame  de  Montespan  was  related  to  the  d'Albrets 
and  a  frequenter  of  their  salon.  She  had  often  met 
Madame  Scarron  there  and  had  been  attracted  by  her 
beauty  and  charm,  and  had  also  noticed  how  unwearied 
and  indefatigable  she  was  in  obliging  friends,  and  especially 
how  maternal  she  was  in  her  care  of  their  children,^  for 
her  love  of  children  was  always  remarkable  all  her  Ufe  long. 

So  at  this  crisis  it  occurred  to  Madame  de  Montespan 
that  Madame  Scarron  was  peculiarly  fitted  to  take  charge 
of  the  expected  child,  and  she  sent  her  brother,  the  Due  de 
Vivonne,  to  her  to  broach  the  subject.  He  said  :  "  I  have 
come,  madame,  to  ask  you  to  give  up  your  liberty  and  to 
undertake  the  important  post  of  bringing  up  the  child  of  a 

great  king." 

Madame  Scarron  was  agitated  and  said  that,  though 
sensible  of  the  honour  done  to  her,  she  had  never  been  a 

1  At  St  Cyr  Madame  de  Maintenon  related  to  the  pupils  :  "  When  I 
stayed  with  Madame  dHudicourt,  Madame  de  Montchevrueil,  or  other 
friends,  nothing  was  too  much  for  me  to  do  to  please  or  help  them.  Six 
o'clock  never  found  me  in  bed.  though  the  mistress  of  the  house  might 
not  come  down  till  twelve  if  she  were  not  well.  I  gave  orders  to  the 
servants,  helped  them  with  my  own  hands,  when  necessary,  dressed  the 
children.'  and  combed  their  hair,  did  anything  that  could  contribute 
to  the  comfort  of  the  household." —  See  Geoffroy's  "Madame  de 
Maintenon." 


GOUVERNANTE  TO  THE  KING'S  CHILDREN  69 

mother  and  doubted  if  she  had  the  necessary  knowledge 
and  capacity,  and  besides,  she  had  been  thinking  of  leaving 
Paris. 

About  this  time  Mademoiselle  d'Aumale,  daughter  of 
the  Due  de  Nemours,  was  going  to  be  married  to  the 
King  of  Portugal,  and  had  invited  Madame  Scarron  to 
accompany  her  to  Portugal  as  secretary  and  had  promised 
to  make  her  lady-in-waiting  and  to  arrange  a  good  marriage 
for  her  ! 

Madame  de  Montespan  in  her  Memoirs  says  : — 

"  The  Queen  of  Portugal  never  forgave  me  for  de- 
priving her  of  her  secretary  and  companion.  She  wrote 
to  me  and  complained  of  it,  saying  :  '  I  shall  hate  you 
all  my  life.'  " 

For  Madame  Scarron  was  persuaded  to  give  up  the  idea 
of  going  to  Portugal  and  to  enter  upon  another  career.  We 
do  not  know  the  reasons  that  actuated  her  at  this  juncture. 
She  may  have  had  as  great  a  liking  for  Paris  as  the  courtiers 
of  the  day,  who  thought  that  life  was  only  worth  living 
within  reach  of  the  rays  of  the  sunshine  of  the  King's 
presence  ;  and  if  they  were  out  of  favour,  and  banished  to 
their  estates,  looked  upon  it  as  a  Russian  might  do  on  exile 
to  Siberia,  and  only  existed  to  receive  the  post  from  Paris 
and  hear  tidings  of  the  paradise  from  which  they  were  shut 
out. 

It  would  appear  that  the  position  offered  Madame  de 
Maintenon  in  Portugal  was  pleasanter  than  that  in  Paris. 
At  all  events  she  did  not  at  once  agree  to  Madame  de 
Montespan's  request,  and  indeed  refused  to  do  so  till  she 
had  received  the  King's  express  command. 

He  had  an  interview  with  her  in  which  he  explained  his 
intentions,  and  said  that  though  secrecy  was  necessary  at 


70 


MADAME  DE  MAINTENON 


A 


present,  the  infant  would  be  recognised  as  his  child  later  on. 
Madame  Scarron  also  received  permission  to  communicate 
with  his  Majesty  himself  as  to  all  matters  relating  to  the 
child's  future  upbringing,  and  she  was  told  to  apply  to 
M.  Bontems,  Keeper  of  the  Privy  Purse,  for  necessary  funds. 

The  child,^  a  girl,  was  bom  in  1669.  At  the  time  of 
Madame  de  Montespan's  accouchement  Madame  Scarron 
was  waiting  in  the  next  room,  and  at  once  carried  off  the 
infant  to  the  house  of  a  nurse  who  had  been  selected.  She 
used  to  visit  the  child  privately,  and  attended  to  its  welfare, 
but  she  herself  remained  in  her  old  quarters  and  appeared 
as  usual  in  society,  the  better  to  keep  the  secret.  The 
same  course  was  adopted  on  the  birth  of  a  second  child, 
the  Comte  de  Vexin,  and  Madame  Scarron's  existence  at 
this  time  must  have  been  most  unenviable,  going  at  all 
hours  from  house  to  house  to  superintend  the  nurses  and 
attend  to  all  that  was  necessary,^  besides  reporting  to  the 
mother,  and  appearing  amongst  her  friends. 

After  the  birth  of  the  third  child  of  the  King  and  Madame 
de  Montespan,  the  Due  du  Maine,  a  house  was  taken 
for  the  three  children,  and  Madame  Scarron  went  there  to 
reside  with  them.  It  was  large  and  commodious,  situated 
amongst  vast  kitchen  gardens  in  a  sequestered  situation 
between  Vaugirard  and  the  Luxembourg.  It  was  tho- 
roughly well  appointed  and  Madame  Scarron's  domestics 
included  two  nurses,  a  waiting-maid,  a  physician,  a  courier, 
two  footmen,  a  coachman,  a  postiHon  and  two  cooks.  She 
was  also  provided  with  an  excellent  coach,  in  which  she 
took  the  children  to  St  Germains  every  week,  to  be  seen  by 
their  parents. 

*  This  child  died  when  three  years  old. 

*  The  children  were  not  in  the  same  house,  each  had  a  separate  nurse. 


i^' 


GOUVERNANTE  TO  THE  KING'S  CHILDREN  71 

While  their  existence  had  to  be  concealed,  and  during  the 
first  years  of  her  guardianship  of  the  children  of  Madame  de 
Montespan  and  the  King,  Madame  Scarron's  existence  must 
have  been  most  unpleasant  and  full  of  annoyances,  but 
there  was  nothing  in  the  post  degrading  or  hurtful  to 
delicacy  of  feeUng,  according  to  the  ideas  of  that  day.  Any 
sort  of  connection  with  the  King  was  considered  enviable. 

Madame  Colbert,  wife  of  the  great  minister,  had  brought 
up  La  Valliere's  daughter,  and  the  Marquise  de  Sabli^re 
was  proposed  for  her  other  children. 

Madame  Scarron's  Confessor  had  told  her  that  it  was  a 
good  work,  and  advised  her  not  to  refuse  it. 

Madame  de  Montespan  retained  the  affections  of  the 
King  for  many  years,  and  the  birth  of  the  Comte  de  Vexin, 
the  title  given  to  the  first  son,  was  succeeded  by  that  of 
six  more  children. 

Five  of  these  were  committed  to  the  care  of  Madame 
Scarron.  The  two  Comtes  de  Vexin  and  the  Due  du 
Maine  were  very  delicate  children,  and  she  is  credited  with 
lavishing  upon  them  the  utmost  care  and  attention.  From 
the  time  when  as  little  helpless  morsels  of  humanity  they 
were  first  confided  to  her,  her  heart  melted  with  pity  for 
these  innocent  creatures,  and  she  began  to  love  them. 

She  herself  said  : — 


"  I  undertook  this  charge  out  of  respect  for  the  King, 
my  benefactor,  and  because  my  Confessor  considered  it 
a  good  work.  At  the  commencement  I  believed  that 
I  should  never  get  to  the  year's  end  without  disgust. 
Little  by  little  I  silenced  my  emotions  and  regrets.  A 
life  of  great  activity  and  occupation,  by  separating  us, 
as  it  were,  from  ourselves,  extinguishes  the  exacting 
niceties  of  our  sensibility  and  self-conceit.  .  .  . 

"  I  remembered  my  sufferings,  my  fears  and  privations 


'I 


II 

m 


\i 


I 


II 


72  MADAME  DE  MAINTENON 

after  the  death  of  that  poor  man,^  and  since  labour  is 
the  yoke  imposed  by  God  on  every  human  being,  I  sub- 
mitted, with  the  best  grace  I  could,  to  the  respectable 
labour  of  education.  Few  teachers  are  attached  to  their 
pupils,  I  attached  myself  to  mine  with  tenderness  and 
delight.  It  is  true  it  has  been  my  good  fortune  to  find 
the  King's  children  amiable  and  pretty  as  few  are." 

Madame  Scarron  has  often  been  accused  of  hypocrisy, 
/  and  it  is  said,  if  she  was  really  a  religious  or  high-principled 
woman,  how  could  she  countenance  the  connection  of 
Louis  XIV.  and  Madame  de  Montespan  ? 

But  Madame  Scarron  could  not  have  been  uninfluenced 
by  the  public  opinion  of  the  days  in  which  she  lived,  when, 
by  general  consent,  kings  were  allowed  to  be  a  law  unto 
themselves,  and  exempt  from  the  laws  of  morality  by 
which  ordinary  mortals  are  judged.  The  highest  families 
in  th^and  thought  it  no  disgrace  for  one  of  their  number  to 
be  a  king's  mistress,  and  ladies  of  the  highest  rank  vied 
with  each  other  to  attract  the  King's  notice,  and  it  was 
mainly  the  unsuccessful  who  found  fault  with  the  success- 
ful competitor  and  professed  to  be  shocked  and  outraged. 
Even  la  Grande  Mademoiselle,  herself  a  woman  of  blame- 
less life,  expressed,  in  the  naivest  fashion,  her  astonishment 
that  the  Marquis  de  Montespan  could  be  so  ill-bred  as  to 
make  a  fuss  when  the  King  deprived  him  of  his  wife. 

The  King  was  never  refused  the  sacraments  of  the 
Church  during  his  long  and  public  connection  with  Madame 
de  Montespan  and  his  other  liaisons.  He  said  his  Confessor 
knew  how  to  reconcile  religion  and  nature. 

Conjugal  fidelity  was  hardly  expected  in  royal  marriages 
at  that  date. 

Though  the  birth  of  Madame  de  Montespan's  children 

*  It  was  thus  she  generally  spoke  of  Scarron. 


GOUVERNANTE  TO  THE  KING'S  CHILDREN  73 

was  for  some  years  kept  secret  from  the  Queen,  yet,  when 
they  were  subsequently  acknowledged,  she  allowed  them  to 
play  with  her  own  children,  and  showed  much  Hking  for 
Madame  Scarron,  complimenting  her  on  the  perfect  way  in 
which  she  had  brought  up  the  Due  du  Maine  and  his 
sisters,  contrasting  their  charming  manners  with  those  of 
her  own  children.  "  Ah  !  madame,"  said  the  poor  Queen, 
*'  you  ought  to  have  educated  my  children."  The  Dauphin's 
manners,  we  learn,  left  much  to  be  desired  :  he  laughed  in 
loud  guffaws  and  raised  his  voice  even  in  the  presence  of 
his  father  ! 

If  the  birth  of  Madame  de  Montespan's  children  had 
been  kept  a  secret  from  the  Queen,  yet  it  was  somewhat  an 
open  secret  to  the  rest  of  the  world,  and  some  of  her  old 
friends  sought  out  Madame  Scarron,  though  for  some  years 
her  duties  were  so  arduous  that  she  could  not  mix  much  in 
society. 

Madame  de  Sevigne  gives  an  account  of  a  dinner  party 
after  which  the  guests  escorted  Madame  Scarron  to  her 
house,  and  adds  : — 

"  She  was  most  agreeable  company,  beautiful,  amiable 
and  natural,  dressed  quietly  but  handsomely,  as  befitted 
one  who  spends  her  time  with  people  of  quality.  We 
took  leave  of  her  at  the  gate,  no  one  being  allowed  to 
enter  the  house,  which  is  a  fine  one." 

Another  time,  when  staying  with  Madame  de  Coulanges, 
her  cousin's  wife,  Madame  de  Sevinge  writes  : — 

"  L'Abbe  Testu  and  Madame  Scarron  came  to  supper. 
It  is  a  pleasure  to  hear  her  talk.  These  conversations 
lead  us  far,  from  morality  to  Christianity  or  politics  or 
philosophy.  When  she  left,  we  amused  ourselves  by 
escorting  her  to  her  house  at  the  extreme  end  of  the 
Faubourg  St  Germain,  almost  in  the  country." 


74 


MADAME  DE  MAINTENON 


f 


Hill 


U|!|! 


When  Madame  Scarron  first  undertook  the  charge  of  the 
children  she  was  still  of  an  age  when  young  women  like 
excitement  and  admiration,  and  possessed  beauty  that 
excited  remark  wherever  she  appeared,  but  she  hved  in 
retirement  with  her  charges,  only  occasionally  visiting  a 
few  old  friends.  She  had  the  gift  of  communicating  what 
she  knew  to  others  and  a  taste  for  doing  so.  At  Madame  de 
Villette's  she  taught  her  attendant  to  read  ;  and  at  the 
convent  she  took  great  pleasure  in  presiding  over  a  class  of 
little  ones,  making  them  read  and  write,  and  superintending 
their  games.  But  it  was  some  years  before  these  abiliti'es 
could  be  brought  to  bear  on  Madame  de  Montespan's 
babies.  Many  mothers  soon  get  tired  of  the  cares  and 
troubles  attached  to  the  tending  of  very  young  children. 
But  Madame  Scarron's  patience  never  failed.  One  day, 
when  the  King  came  unexpectedly  to  visit  his  children,  he 
found  the  Gouvemante  alone  with  them.  She  was  holding 
the  hand  of  the  Due  du  Maine,  who  had  fever ;  with  the 
other  hand  she  rocked  the  cradle  in  which  his  sister. 
Mademoiselle  de  Nantes,  lay ;  and  on  her  lap  was  the  second 
Comte  de  Vexin,  asleep.  The  King  was  touched  by  this 
picture,  and  told  Madame  Scarron  that  he  did  not  know 
how  to  find  words  strong  enough  to  express  his  gratitude 
for  her  devotion  to  his  children. 

Next  day  he  sent  for  the  Pension  List,  and  seeing  oppo- 
site the  name  of  Scarron,  *'  2700  francs,*'  he  erased  these 
words  and  wrote  instead,  "  2700  crowns." 

The  devoted  care  shown  to  these  children  must  have  been 
all  the  more  striking  to  the  King  in  contrast  to  his  own 
neglected  childhood.  He  was  King  at  three  years  old, 
and  in  after  hfe  he  used  to  say  that  he  remembered  his 
Gouvemante  playing  cards  all  day  and  leaving  him  and  his 


GOUVERNANTE  TO  THE  KING'S  CHILDREN  75 

brother  to  the  care  of  a  peasant,  the  waiting-maid.  If  an 
omelette  was  cooked,  they  got  some  scraps  of  it,  which  they 
ate  in  a  comer.  No  attempt  was  made  to  provide  them 
with  suitable  and  wholesome  food.  Their  most  frequent 
companion  was  a  httle  girl,  granddaughter  of  the  woman 
who  attended  on  the  Queen's  waiting-maids.  This  child's 
name  was  Marie,  and  they  played  at  her  being  queen, 
Louis  taking  the  part  of  page. 

In  reply  to  a  letter  of  congratulation  received  from 
Madame  de  Coulanges,  Madame  Scarron  wrote  : — 

"  Thank  you  a  thousand  times  for  the  gracious  things 
you  say  of  me  in  your  letter.  The  money  may  be  more 
than  I  merit,  but  not  more  than  my  cares.  I  am  con- 
suming the  best  part  of  my  Hfe  in  the  service  of  others. 
I  am  always  in  a  state  of  alarm  and  mortal  disquietude, 
and  you  would  hardly  beUeve  how  the  disagreeables 
incident  to  my  position  get  on  my  nerves. 

"  I  long  for  peace  and  quiet,  but  live  in  the  midst  of 
incessant  bustle  and  movement.  I  have  very  few  minutes 
to  give  to  my  friends.  The  King's  bounty  cannot  make 
up  to  me  for  all  I  undergo  and  all  I  lose." 


CHAPTER  VI 


GOUVERNANTE    TO    THE    KING'S    CHILDREN — (continued) 

IN  1673  the  children  were  legitimatised  and  publicly 
acknowledged  and  came  with  their  Gouvemante 
to  reside  at  Court  with  Madame  de  Montespan. 
Madame  Scarron  was  treated  with  much  con- 
sideration as  Gouvemante  of  the  King's  Children  and  she 
relates  how  on  the  first  day  that  she  was  included  in  the 
Royal  cortege  for  the  afternoon  drive,  that  Turenne, 
Lauzim,  and  a  number  of  courtiers  surrounded  the  caliche 
in  which  she  was  sitting  with  the  children,  and  were 
anxious  to  engage  her  in  conversation. 

Madame  de  Montespan  considered  that  Madame  Scarron 
filled  to  perfection  the  role  of  Gouvemante  to  the  King's 
Children.  But  the  King  for  a  long  time  felt  distaste  for 
her/  so  much  so  that  when  he  came  to  visit  Madame  de 
Montespan,  if  he  heard  that  Madame  Scarron  was  with  her, 
he  always  withdrew  on  reaching  the  vestibule.  One  day, 
however,  as  he  was  approaching,  he  heard  peals  of  laughter 
issuing  from  the  room,  and,  stopping  at  the  door  to  hsten, 
was  greatly  tickled  by  a  funny  story  that  Madame  Scarron 
was  relating  about  the  aberrations  of  the  celebrated 
Brancas.  At  the  conclusion  of  the  story  the  King  entered 
the  room,  smiling,  and  addressing  the  Gouvemante  said : — 

*  This  dislike  was  founded  on  a  kind  of  dread  of  her  merit — that  is, 
her  reputation  for  modesty  and  talent.     He  imagined  her  to  be  a 
mixture  of  Prude  and  Preciense,  says  her  niece,  Madame  de  Caylus. 
76 


Mignara 


LOUIS   XIV    AS   A    YOUNG    MAN 
By  permission  of  Sir  J.  Robinson 


Itll  f    ' 


Pii! 


GOUVERNANTE  TO  THE  KING'S  CHILDREN  77 

"  Allow  me,  madame,  to  compliment  you  and  at  the  same 
time  to  thank  you  for  the  amusement  you  have  afforded 
me.  I  thought  you  were  of  a  serious,  melancholy  disposi- 
tion, but  as  I  listened  to  you  through  the  open  door  I  am  no 
longer  surprised  that  you  have  such  long  talks  with  Mdme. 
la  Marquise.  Will  you  do  me  the  favour  of  being  as  amusing 
some  other  time,  if  I  venture  to  make  one  of  the  party  ?  " 

The  Gouvernante,  blushing  and  curtseying,  said :  "It 
was  the  fear  of  displeasing  you  which,  despite  myself, 
caused  me  to  incur  your  displeasure." 

The  King  replied  :  *'  Madame,  I  am  aware  of  your  affec- 
tion for  my  children;  that  is  a  great  recommendation  to  me. 
Banish  all  restraint  and  I  shall  take  great  pleasure  in  your 
company." 

To  be  a  good  conversationalist  was,  perhaps,  the  highest 
social  qualification  in  France,  in  those  days,  where  many 
people  made  conversation  the  sole  occupation  of  their 
lives.  Carlyle  speaks  of  the  "  everflowing  tide  of  French 
talk,  ebbing  only  towards  the  small  hours  of  the  morning." 
Many  people  met  at  each  other's  houses  nightly  "for  no 
other  purpose  but  talk.  Ladies  gave  forth  with  delightful 
confidence  their  opinion  of  everything  on  earth,  and  with 
clever  doubt  on  everything  above  it ;  boudoir  Abbes  took 
pains  to  prevent  the  world  from  supposing  that  religious 
profession  implied  conviction ;  men  of  fashion  told 
piquant  stories,  which  might  be  too  broad,  but  were  never 
too  long.  Men  of  science  spoke  their  best  on  what  they 
knew  best.  There  was  abundance  of  sentiment  but  little 
deep  feeling.  The  worst  misfortunes  of  friends  were  only  a 
subject  of  conversation  one  day  and  a  bore  the  next.i 


*  Vide  Henry  Graham  in  Blackwood's  "  Foreign  Classics  for  English 
readers." 


)l 


|l|i 

% 


78 


MADAME  DE  MAINTENON 


ill! 


m  i 


However  great  their  trials  and  misfortunes,  nothing 
destroyed  the  capacity  of  the  French  gentleman  or  lady 
for  conversation.  At  a  later  date  we  hear  of  Madame  de 
Tesse,  whose  idea  of  enjoyment  was  perpetual  conversation, 
and  who  carried  about  the  witty  and  imperturbable  old 
Marquis  de  Mun  with  her  wherever  she  went  in  order  that 
she  might  always  have  someone  at  hand  to  talk  to. 
Without  this,  she  said,  she  could  not  have  endured  the 
solitude  and  silence  of  the  Swiss  mountains,  when  she  was 
compelled  to  emigrate. 

Madame  de  Montespan  was  celebrated  for  her  wit 
(r  esprit  Mortemart),  yet  she  herself  says  : — 

'*  I  have  the  reputation  of  special  talent  for  enlivening 
conversation,  and  certainly  I  do  not  think  people  often 
find  themselves  dull  in  my  company,  but  in  this  respect 
Madame  Scarron  is  without  a  rival." 

After  the  little  episode  just  related,  the  King  no  longer 
avoided  Madame  Scarron,  but  took  pleasure  in  drawing 
her  into  conversation. 

There  is  abundant  testimony  to  the  impression  always 
made  by  Madame  Scarron's  appearance. 

The  chief  characteristic  of  her  beauty  seems  to  have  been 
fine  eyes,  an  exquisite  complexion  of  transparent  white- 
ness, which  excitement  or  emotion  suffused  with  a  delicate 
pink  (the  sheen  of  the  lily  mingled  with  that  of  the  rose, 
as  an  admirer  expresses  it),  a  most  graceful  figure,  and 
elegant  but  distinguished  carriage  ;  to  these  charms  were 
added  a  remarkably  sweet  voice  and  attractive  manner  of 

1  Her  complexion  excited  much  comment.  A  tale  was  current  that 
she  owed  its  beauty  to  a  potion  given  her  by  a  negress  in  Martinique  ; 
but  Madame  de  Montespan  says  :  "  She  is  nature  unadorned  as  to  her 
complexion.  During  the  journeys  of  the  Court  she  often  slept  in  my 
room  and  her  face  at  washing  was  the  same  as  at  noon  or  evening." 


GOUVERNANTE  TO  THE  KING'S  CHILDREN  79 

speaking.  Under  the  mask  of  a  very  pretty  woman  she 
concealed  the  knowledge  and  ability  of  a  statesman,  so  it  is 
not  surprising  that  the  King  began  to  enjoy  conversations 
with  her. 

He  had  never  discussed  public  affairs  with  Madame  de 
Montespan,  she  never  knew  what  was  going  on  ;  but  he 
gradually  fell  into  the  habit  of  discussing  many  matters 
with  the  Gouvernante  of  his  children,  and  was  much  struck 
by  the  soundness  of  her  opinions  and  the  clever  manner  in 
which  she  expressed  them.  She  was  allowed  to  write 
direct  to  the  King  on  all  matters  connected  with  the 
children  ;  and  he  often  commented  on  the  charm  of 
her  style  of  writing,  and  she  gradually  advanced  in 
favour. 

When  the  wealthy  Abbey  of  St  Germain  des  Pres  fell 
vacant,  the  King  bestowed  it  on  the  httle  Comte  de  Vexin, 
who  was  thus  richly  provided  for.  The  Benedictine  monks 
complained  that  a  child  barely  out  of  the  cradle  should  be 
given  them  as  a  chief,  but  the  King  sent  them  word  that 
his  son  would  be  represented  by  his  Vicar-General,  till 
such  time  as  he  became  able  to  assume  the  governorship 
himself.  Madame  de  Montespan  had  no  love  for  the 
Church,  and  remonstrated  with  the  King  for  "  condemning 
her  son  to  be  an  ecclesiastic." 

"  Will  my  son  on  receiving  his  Abbey  have  to  wear  the 
dress  of  his  office  7  "  she  asked. 

"  Madame,'*  said  the  King,  "  if  on  growing  up  the  Comte 
de  Vexin  should  evince  a  warhke  disposition,  we  can 
relieve  him  of  his  Abbey,  while  he  will  have  profited  thereby 
up  to  that  time.  As  to  the  dress,  why  should  you  object  to 
it  ?  The  princes  of  the  German  Empire  are  nearly  all 
ecclesiastics,  and  history  tells  us  that  some  sons  of  French 


8o 


MADAME  DE  MAINTENON 


:ilr 


iKi  :i 


ill  i 


Kings  have  been   Bishops  and  Abbes  in  almost  every 

reign." 

At  this  moment   Madame   Scarron   entered,  and   his 

Majesty,  addressing  her,  said : 

*'  Madame,  we  will  make  you  the  arbiter  of  the  question 
we  are  now  discussing.  Do  you  think  there  is  any  objec- 
tion to  our  giving  the  dress  of  an  Abbe  to  little  Vexin  ?  " 

"On  the  contrary.  Sire,"  replied  the  Gouvemante, 
"  such  a  dress  will  inspire  him  betimes  with  reserve  and 
modesty  and  strengthen  his  principles.  How  can  madame, 
his  mother,  object  to  his  wearing  what  may  be  called  the 
livery  of  the  servants  of  God  ?  If  our  religion  is  a  true  one, 
God  Himself  is  the  Head  of  it,  and  the  sons  of  Kings  may  be 
honoured  in  devoting  themselves  to  the  service  of  so 

supreme  a  Chief." 

"  I  am  obliged  by  your  opinion,  madame,"  answered  the 
King,  "  and  I  flatter  myself  that  you  see  things  in  the  same 

light  as  I  do." 

A  few  days  afterwards  Madame  Scarron,  with  smiUng 
face,  presented  the  little  Comte  de  Vexin,  dressed  as  an 
Abbe,  to  the  King,  and  she  was  careful  to  see  that  the 
crozier,  mitre  and  cross  were  painted  on  the  panels  of  his 
coach.  The  little  Abbe  was  a  gentle  and  lovable  child, 
who  made  such  funny  speeches  that  the  King  was  highly 
diverted  by  them  and  took  much  notice  of  him.  He, 
however,  died  very  young,  and  the  King  conferred  his  title 
of  Comte  de  Vexin  on  his  brother,  Madame  de  Montespan's 
third  son,  to  whom  was  also  given  the  Abbey  of  St  Denis. 
When  after  his  nomination  the  monks  of  St  Denis  came  to 
make  their  obeisance  to  him,  he  asked  if  they  were  devils, 
and  covered  his  face  so  as  not  to  see  them. 

The   King  arrived,  and  with  a  few  flattering  words 


GOUVERNANTE  TO  THE  KING^S  CHILDREN  8i 

managed  to  soothe  the  priests'  outraged  dignity,  and  they 
asked  their  httle  Abbe  if  he  would  honour  them  by  a  visit. 
He  replied,  with  a  sulky  smile  : 
"  I'll  come  and  see  you,  but  with  my  eyes  shut." 
To  make  amends  for  his  Httle  son's  unfriendliness,  his 
Majesty  himself  took  them  to  see  his  splendid  collection  of 
medals  and  coins,  and  sent  them  back  to  their  Abbey  in 
Court  carriages. 

After  the  children  had  been  acknowledged  and 
established  at  VersaiUes,  the  King  presented  Madame 
Scarron  with  a  sum  of  100,000  francs  in  recognition  of  her 
services. 

Writing  to  the  Abb^  Gobelin,  on  the  i6th  September 
1674,  she  said  : — 

"People  think  I  am  indebted  to  Madame  de 
Montespan  for  this  gift,  but  I  owe  it  to  my  little  Prince 

"The  other  day  the  King  was  talking  and  playing 
with  him  and  was  much  pleased  with  the  replies  the 
child  gave  to  his  questions,  and  told  him  that  he  was 
very  sensible  (raisonnable) . 

J"  How  could  I  be  otherwise,'  replied  the  child, '  when 
the  lady  who  takes  charge  of  me  is  Reason  itself  ?  ' 

"  '  Go  and  teU  her,'  said  the  King,  *  that  you  will  give 
her  100,000  francs  this  evening  for  your  sweets.'  " 


li 


"'1 


./* 


il 


!p! 


/ 


CHAPTER   VII 

MADAME  SCARRON  BECOMES  MARQUISE  DE  MAINTENON 

AFTER  coming  to  reside  at   Court   with  her 
charges  Madame  Scarron  found  her  position 
much    less    agreeable  than  when  she  was 
mistress  of  the  house  in  Vaugirard. 
Madame  de  Montespan  could  be  most  fascinating,  but 
she  was  very  imperious,  and  had  a  violent  and  uncertain 
temper.     She  received  150,000  francs  annually  for  the 
maintenance  of  her  children,  but  she  often  spent  part  of 
the  money  on  her  own  fancies  and  Madame  Scarron  could 
not  always  get  all  she  thought  necessary  for  the  children. 
The  mother  attempted  to  interfere  in  all  matters  connected 
with  the  management  of  the  children,  and  her  interference 
was  most  injudicious,  and  would  have  been  injurious  to 
their  welfare,  but  when  the  Gouvemante  was  convinced 
that  this  would  be  the  case  she  made  a  stand,  and  many 
tmpleasant  scenes  were  the  result. 

Madame  de  Montespan  was  also  becoming  jealous  of 
the  King's  increasing  hking  for  Madame  Scarron,  and 
showed  it  by  endeavouring  to  treat  her  as  a  subordinate 
and  with  scant  courtsey,  sometimes  making  use  of  violent 
and  abusive  language. 

Madame  Scarron  met  these  attacks  with  considerable 
patience  and  wisdom,  which  increased  the  King's  esteem, 
'  advanced  her  in  his  good  graces,  and  made  known  what 
was,  to  him,  a  novel  type  of  feminine  character. 

8a 


/ 


K 


BECOMES  MARQUISE  DE  MAINTENON  83 
She  was  often  tempted  to  retire.  But  in  spite  of  aU 
disagreeables  she  stayed  at  her  post,  hoping  eventuaUy  to 
obtain  from  the  King  such  a  recompense  for  her  services 
as  would  assure  her  independence.  This  was  her  heart's 
desire. 

In  a  letter  to  the  Abbe  Gobelin,  October  1674,  she 
wrote : — 

"  I  ani  still  in  the  same  mind.  I  wish  to  retire.  Mv 
staying  here  is  useless  for  myself  and  for  others  •  the 
way  m  which  the  children  are  brought  up  is  very  bad  for 
them.  I  must  leave  this  place  where  one  has  to  speak 
and  act  against  one's  conscience.  Pray  for  me  that  I 
may  decide  aright.  I  should  retire  at  once,  only  the 
children  are  always  ill.  -^ 

In  February  she  wrote  again  : 

1^x12^^^%^ f,  ^'f "  ^  *^'?''*^  ^^"^  between  myself  and 
Madame  de  Montespan,  the  King  was  present.    All  this 
and  the  continued  ailments  of  the  chUdren,  is  more  thaii 
1  can  endure. 

With  reference  to  this  scene  Madame  de  Caylus  says  :— 

•;  I  heard  from  Madame  de  Maintenon  that  one  day 
while  altercation  was  going  on  between  herself  and 
Madame  de  Montespan,  in  which  the  latter  was  expres- 
sing herself  with  much  violence,  the  King  came  in  with- 
out their  having  perceived  his  approach.  He  expressed 
great  surprise  and  asked  what  was  the  matter.  Madame 
bcarron,  as  she  then  was,  calmly  replied :  '  If  your 
Majesty  will  do  me  the  favour  of  coming  into  the  next 
room  I  wiU  explain  matters.'  "  1  ^  * 

The  King  complied  and  Madame  de  Montespan  was  left 
by  herself.  When  she  found  herself  alone  with  the  King, 
Madame  Scarron  described  the  difficulties  of  her  posi- 
tion in  vivid  coloure.    The  King  had  previously  gathered 

^  Souvenirs,  p.  457. 


Ill 


84  MADAME  DE  MAINTENON 

some  idea  of  the  state  of  affairs,  and  he  endeavoured 
to  put  matters  on  a  better  footing.  He  was  stiU  much 
attached  to  Madame  de  Montespan,  but  he  contracted  her 
violent  temper  with  the  calmness  and  dignity  of  Madame 
Scarron,  who  did  not  lose  by  companson. 

Her  great  wish  was  to  acquire  some  small  estate  to 
which  she  could  retire  and  live  independently. 

She  had  asked  an  old  friend,  who  was  a  lawyer,  M.  Jean 
Viette  to  look  out  for  a  suitable  property  ;  and  when  in 
1674  the  estate  of  Maintenon  came  into  the  market,  she 
obtained  from  the  King  ^  another  sum  of  100,000  livres  ^ 
which,  with  some  savings  she  had  made,  enabled  her  m 
January  1675  to  complete  the  purchase  of  it  for  the  sum  of 
250,000  livres.3  Maintenon  was  fourteen  miles  from  Pans, 
ten  from  Versailles,  and  nearer  Chartres. 

The  chateau  was  in  the  Gothic  style,  large  and  of  solid 
proportions,  built  for  defence,  dating  from  Philippe  Augus- 
tus and  added  to  in  the  fifteenth  century.  It  had  been 
the  property  of  Cottereau  (Finance  Minister  to  Francois 
I )  who  had  embellished  it.  It  was  surrounded  by  a  moat, 
and  had  extensive  gardens  bounded  by  a  fine  stream  of 
water  ;  beyond  were  broad  meadows  studded  with  clumps 

of  fine  trees. 

After  her  first  visit  Madame  Scarron  wrote  to  her  great 
friend,  Madame  de  Coulanges,  on  i6th  Ferbuary  1675  :- 

"  I  am  more  impatient  to  tell  you  about  Maintenon 
than  you  can  be  to  hear.     I  stayed  there  two  days 

1  It  is  said,  owing  to  the  representations  made  to  him  on  her  behalf 
bv  the  Duchesse  de  RicheUeu.  and  other  influential  friends. 

«  Livre  was  the  business  term  for  franc  in  those  days. 

.uTaH  curious  coincidence  that  the  vendor  the  Marquis  de 
Mainteron  went  to  take  the  post  of  Governor  of  the  Island  of  Mane 
Ga™where  Constantine  d'Aubigne  had  been  sent)  and  died  there. 


BECOMES  MARQUISE  DE  MAINTENON    85 

which  seemed  only  a  moment.  I  am  already  fond  of  it 
What  do  you  say  to  that  ?  Do  you  wonder  that  at  my 
age  (thirty-nine)  I  should  attach  myself  to  a  new  place 
hke  a  child  ?  It  is  a  fine  house  a  little  too  big  for  the 
mode  of  life  I  intend  to  inaugurate  there.  The  grounds 
are  lovely.  There  are  woods  in  which  Madame  de 
Sevigne  1  could  dream  of  Madame  de  Grignan  at  ease. 
I  wish  I  could  remain  there,  but  the  time  for  that  has  not 
yet  come." 

The  King  had  ordered  her  to  sign  only  "  Maintenon,"  and 
this  is  the  first  letter  thus  signed. 

The  King  henceforth  always  addressed  his  children's 
Gouvemante  as  Madame  de  Maintenon,  and  the  rest  of  the 
world  followed  suit.  But  although  the  title  went  with  the 
estate  it  was  not  formally  accorded  to  her  till  1688,  when 
letters  patent  were  issued  conferring  that  title  on  her,  at 
the  same  time  that  the  King  purchased  and  presented  to 
her  some  adjoining  lands  as  compensation  for  the  injury 
done  to  her  property  by  the  construction  of  waterworks 
intended  to  carry  water  to  Versailles. 

Although  on  this  occasion  the  new  owner  only  paid  a 
flying  visit  to  Maintenon,  shortly  afterwards  Madame  de 
Montespan  expressed  a  wish  to  see  the  place,  and  the  two 
ladies  went  together  and  were  received  with  much  cere- 
mony ;  indeed  this  visit  seems  to  have  been  for  Madame  de 
Maintenon  a  formal  entry  into  possession  of  her  property. 
On  her  arrival  with  Madame  de  Montespan,  the  six 
Canons  who  officiated  in  the  Collegiate  Chapel  attached  to 

J  Madame  de  Coulanges  was  wife  of  Madame  de  Sevign6's  cousin, 
bne  was  herself  counted  a  wit  and  very  intimate  with  the  illustrious 
letter  writer  as  well  as  with  Madame  Scarron.  and  this  friendship  did  not 
diminish  when  the  latter  attained  a  more  elevated  position.  We  read 
01  Madame  de  Maintenon  keeping  a  special  place  for  Madame  de 
coulanges  at  the  great  performance  of  Esther  at  St  Cyr. 


86  MADAME  DE  MAINTENON 

the  castle  met  them,  approaching  in  procession  and  pre- 
senting holy  water. 

The  viUagers,  dressed  out  in  their  best,  also  offered 
baskets  of  fruit  and  flowers,  and  afterwards  danced  in  the 
courtyard  to  the  sound  of  hautboy  and  bagpipes.  The 
new  Madame  de  Maintenon  gave  them  money,  said  some- 
thing pleasant  to  everybody,  and  invited  the  Canons  to 

supper. 

The  town  of  Maintenon  had  a  College  for  Canons  of  the 
Second  Order.  The  nominations  to  the  Canonries  were  m 
the  hands  of  Madame  de  Maintenon,  and  her  letters  show 
that  this  gave  her  a  good  deal  of  trouble  ;  for  she  was 
scrupulously  anxious  not  to  present  any  but  exemplary 

men.  . 

Madame  de  Montespan,  in  giving  an  account  of  this  visit, 

says  that  Madame  de  Maintenon  was  moved  to  tears  by 
her  reception  on  this  occasion. 

It  is  not  surprising.  After  all  the  vicissitudes  she  had 
been  through,  all  that  she  had  suffered  from  being  in  a 
state  of  dependence,  her  feelings  must  have  been  over- 
whelming  when  at  last  she  found  herself  in  a  home  of  her 
own,  with  an  assured  income. 

It  is  easy  to  imagine  the  sense  of  peace  and  security  with 
which  she  sank  to  rest  that  night  under  her  own  roof. 

The  revenue  of  the  estate  of  Maintenon  was  only  10,000 
francs,but  by  good  management  the  new  mistress  gradually 
increased  it  to  15,000.  Her  talent  for  management  and 
organisation  here  found  full  scope. 

She  did  not  grind  down  the  farmers,  but  brought  waste 
land  under  cultivation,  imported  Swiss  cattle,  and  built 
fine  pigeon-houses. 

While  improving  the  position  of  her  tenantry,  she  only 


BECOMES  MARQUISE  DE  MAINTENON    87 

made  such  repairs  as  were  absolutely  necessary  to  the 
castle.  The  drawing-room  was  immense,  and  badly  fur- 
nished ;  she  had  it  rehung  with  light  blue  damask,  and 
adorned  it  with  a  large  chandeHer.  She  placed  in  it  a  divan 
with  eight  seats,  and  also  sixty  chairs  of  various  kinds. 
Over  the  mantelpiece  she  hung  two  large  Venetian 
mirrors.  When  the  King  and  Queen  came  to  pay  her  a 
visit  they  admired  her  taste. 

When  she  attended  service  for  the  first  time  at  the 
parish  church,  all  the  inhabitants  of  the  town  and  neigh- 
bourhood crowded  in  to  gaze  at  her.  She  received  holy 
water  at  the  door,  and  on  arriving  at  her  seat  found  a 
carpet  and  her  coat-of-arms  already  placed  there.  It  was 
remarked  that  when  the  acolyte  brought  incense  to  her  she 
was  not  pleased,  and  she  afterwards  asked  the  celebrant 
not  to  repeat  that  mark  of  respect. 

When  conversing  with  the  Cure  of  the  parish  she  said  to 
him : 

"  Monsieur,  your  church  is  very  poor  and  small  and  in  a 
ruinous  state.  Such  a  building  destined  for  the  service  of 
God  would  be  a  reproach  to  me  in  my  fine  castle.  It  must 
be  demolished,  and  I  shall  beg  the  King  to  erect  another." 

This  promise  was  fulfilled,  and  Madame  de  Maintenon 
presented  to  the  new  church  the  lamps,  sacred  vases,  the 
linen  and  vestments,  and  would  not  allow  her  arms  to  be 
engraved  on  the  pyx,  or  the  monstrance. 

She  A^atched  carefully  over  the  interests  of  her  tenants, 
won  their  admiration  and  affection,  entering  into  their 
joys  and  sorrows,  and  doing  all  she  could  to  improve  their 
condition.  To  this  end  she  introduced  weavers  from  Nor- 
mandy and  lacemakers  from  Flanders  to  teach  their  arts, 
and  give  employment  to  hands  that  had  hitherto  been  idle. 


Itl 


\ 


^ 


88  MADAME  DE  MAINTENON 

As  her  powers  increased,  so  did  the  benefits  she  bestowed 
on  Maintenon,  including  a  weU-equipped  hospital  and 

revenues  to  keep  it  up. 

Madame  de  Maintenon's  gratitude  to  the  King  was  in- 
tense but  the  improvement  in  her  position  did  not  spoil  her. 
She  gave  herself  no  airs,  no  change  was  perceptible  in  her 

manners  and  bearing. 

One  day  the  King  escaped  from  St  Germains  and  paid  a 
surprise  visit  to  Maintenon.  The  chatelaine,  in  country 
attire,  was  walking  in  the  gardens  with  the  Due  du  Maine. 
On  hearing  the  dinner-bell  they  returned  to  the  house,  and 
found  the  King,  who  was  hungry,  and  had  ordered  dinner  to 
be  hastened.  The  Due  du  Mame  was  enchanted  to  see  his 
father,  for  whom  he  had  the  greatest  affection  and  admira- 
tion. 

Madame  de  Maintenon  came  and  went,  giving  orders  for 

a  rustic  repast,  and  was  able  to  serve  the  King  with  fresh 
fish  from  the  river,  fresh  eggs,  and  delicious  butter,  and  a 
dehcate  salad  flanked  by  fresh  fruit  and  confectionery ; 
and  the  whole  was  seasoned  by  witty  conversation. 

Afterwards,  in  high  goodhumour,  Louis  strolled  about  the 
grounds  ;  admired  improvements,  suggested  new  ones,  and 
said  he  would  send  his  own  landscape  gardener,  le  Notre,  to 
carry  them  out. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

THE   DUC  DU  MAINE'S  STATE  JOURNEY  TO  BAREGE 

MADAME  DE  MONTESPAN'S  first  chUd,  a 
girl,  died  young ;  then  came  Comte  Vexin 
and  the  Due  du  Maine ;  then  another  boy, 
for  whom  the  title  of  Comte  de  Vexin  was 
revived,^  and  who  also  died  at  an  early  age ;   then  two 
daughters,  Mesdemoiselles  de  Nantes  and  de  Tours. 

The  Due  du  Maine  was  Madame  de  Maintenon's  favourite 
pupil ;  she  used  to  call  him  "  my  heart's  tenderness."  He 
was  a  very  delicate  child,  and  only  the  tender  care  of  his 
•Gouvemante  saved  his  life.  He  had  one  leg  shorter  than 
the  other  :  some  say  he  was  born  so  ;  others  that  he 
received  an  injury  through  being  dropped  by  a  careless 
nurse.  Madame  de  Maintenon  consulted  numerous 
doctors  about  him,  and  took  him  to  Antwerp  to  see  a 
celebrated  physician.  The  poor  child's  sensitive  nature 
was  wounded  when  he  found  his  defects  exposed  to  the 
surgeon's  eye,  and  he  said  :  "  Sir  !  at  least,  I  was  not  born 
so.    Look  at  mamma,  and  papa  is  anything  but  lame." 

The  Antwerp  treatment  was  not  successful ;  and  later  on 
the  waters  of  Barege,  in  the  Pyrenees,  were  recommended, 
and  the  King  asked  Madame  de  Maintenon  to  accompany 
the  child.  At  eight  years  old,  he  had  passed  into  the  hands 
of  a  tutor.  Abbe  le  Ragois,  nephew  of  Pere  Gobelin,  Madame 
de  Maintenon's  Confessor.    The  Due  du  Maine  having  been 

^  The  first  Comte  de  Vexin  died  young. 

89 


90 


MADAME  DE  MAINTENON 


legitimatized,  the  journey  was  made  in  all  the  state  suitable 
to  his  rank  as  Prince  of  the  Blood.  The  King  with  his 
own  hand  had  written  in  advance  to  the  Governors  of  the 
provinces  through  which  his  son  must  pass,  announcing 
his  arrival,  and  speaking  of  his  Gouvemante,  Madame  de 
Maintenon,  as  a  lady  whom  he  favoured  with  his  highest 
esteem  and  royal  consideration. 

The  Governor,  the  Commandants,  the  Parliaments,  the 
Bishops,  the  Intendants,  saw  in  the  little  invalid  the 
cherished  son  of  Louis  the  Great— and  in  Madame  de 
Maintenon   the   child's   guardian   angel,    whose   charm, 
talents  and  virtues  were  an  honour  to  the  nobility  of 
France.    When   his  health  permitted,  the  boy  himself 
repUed  to  the  addresses ;    when  he  was  not  well  enough 
his   Gouvemante   repUed   for   him.      Her    dignity   and 
simpHcity  and  well-chosen  words  were  always  admired, 
also  her  taking  manners  and  unassuming  demeanour. 
The  town  of  Bordeaux  distinguished  itself  by  its  loyal 
demonstrations.     When  the  royal  vessel  entered  the  port 
all  the  men-of-war  dressed  their  flags  and  fired  a  salute, 
the   artillery   of   the   Chateau   Trompette   thundered   a 
welcome.     "  The  Chateau  Trompette  is  doing  its  duty  in 
saluting  you,"  said  Marechal  d'Albret,  who  was  by  her  side, 
and  on  passing  the  place  with  which  she  could  have  but 
melancholy    associations    Madame    was    overcome    by 
emotion,  and  the  sense  of  the  contrast  between  her  former 
and  present  position.     Her  brother,  Charles  d'Aubigne, 
for  whom  she  had  obtained  the  governorship  of  Cognac, 
received  them  with  all  honours.     He  had  got  together  a 
regiment  of  boys  dressed  as  Royal  Musketeers,  and  trained 
them  to  mount  guard  and  attend  the  young  prince,  who 
was  much  delighted. 


DUG  DU  MAINE'S  JOURNEY  TO  BARfeGE  91 

After  leaving  Cognac  Madame  de  Maintenon  wrote  to 
her  brother,  giving  an  account  of  their  progress  : — 

"  We  are  getting  through  our  journey  very  happily, 
my  dear  brother,  and  except  for  a  slight  attack  of  fever 
that  our  Prince  has  had,  I  have  not  had  one  annoyance, 
I  am  more  at  peace  than  I  have  ever  been.  The  weather 
is  fine  and  we  have  every  comfort.  Everywhere  we  are 
received  as  if  it  were  the  King  himself — but  Guienne  has 
distinguished  itself,  and  it  would  have  been  impossible 
to  have  made  greater  demonstrations  of  joy  than  have 
been  made  here.  Madame  la  Marechale  d'Albret 
seemed  very  glad  to  see  us.  At  Poitiers  we  were  almost 
overwhelmed  with  attentions.  M.  le  Due  de  St  Simon 
entertained  us  magnificently  at  Braye. 

"  The  magistrate  of  Bordeaux  brought  a  magnificent 
boat  for  us.  We  had  40  rowers,  and  we  progressed 
easily  and  smoothly.  When  we  came  in  sight  of  the 
town,  vessels  came  out  to  meet  us,  some  carrying  violin 
players,  others  trumpeters.  But  when  we  drew  nearer 
nothing  could  have  been  more  effective  than  the  Cannon 
of  Chateau  Trompette,  and  of  the  men-of-war  in  harbour, 
mingling  with  the  music  from  the  boats  that  followed  us, 
and  the  cries  of  *  Vive  le  Roi '  from  crowds  of  people  on 
the  banks.  M.  le  Marechal  d'Albret  went  before  us  as 
far  as  Pons,  and  conducted  the  Prince  on  shore  where 
he  was  received  by  the  Municipal  Council,  who  read  an 
address.  Then  we  got  into  our  coach  and  were  followed 
by  a  hundred  others,  our  progress  from  the  port  to  the 
house  prepared  for  us  took  more  than  an  hour." 

The  following  letter  was  written  to  Madame  de 
Montespan  by  Madame  de  Maintenon  on  arriving  at 
Barege. 


"  Le  Mignon  [pet  name  of  the  Due  du  Maine]  is  quite 
well.  This  journey  is  not  one,  only  an  agreeable 
promenade.  Guienne  did  wonders,  and  I  promised  M. 
d'Albret  and  M.  de  St  Simon  to  write  you  an  account  of 
it.    The   King   himself   could   not   have   been   better 


W.  u 


llli 


92  MADAME  DE  MAINTENON 

received ;  endless  honours  and  acclamations  every- 
where. You  would  have  been  enchanted,  Madame,  and 
you  cannot  imagine  how  great  is  the  love  of  the  people 
for  the  King,  and  all  that  belongs  to  him.  Le  Mignon 
replied  to  the  address  of  the  Magistrates  of  Bordeaux. 
His  tutor  will  send  you  the  particulars.  In  four  or  five 
days  we  shall  begin  the  baths.  People  speak  of  the 
prodigies  they  effect — but  we  must  be  patient.  There 
are  a  great  number  of  visitors  here,  but  we  shall  be  as 
free  as  if  we  were  alone  ;  although  we  already  perceive 
that  the  respect  shown  for  us  will  cause  some  con- 
straint. I  enclose  some  nonsense  the  '  Mignon  '  has 
written." 

Letter  of  the  Due  du  Maine  to  his  mother  : — 

"  I  am  going  to  send  you  all  the  news  to  divert  you, 
cher  petit  c(zur  ;  and  I  shall  write  well,  as  it  is  to  you. 
Madame  de  Maintenon  passes  the  day  in  knitting  and 
would  knit  all  night  if  she  could.  But  she  tries  to 
improve  my  mind  ;  and  I  will  do  the  same,  as  I  have  so 
great  a  wish  to  please  you  and  the  King.  On  the 
journey  I  read  the  history  of  Caesar.  I  am  now  reading 
that  of  Alexander,  and  shall  soon  begin  the  history  of 
Pompey.  The  Almoner's  roguery  continues,  Lutcdn  is 
very  lazy.  Heinault  always  does  what  I  want — ^but 
Nanon  does  not  like  lending  me  Madame  de  Maintenon's 
clothes  when  I  want  to  dress  up  as  a  girl.  I  was 
delighted  with  the  letter  you  wrote  to  your  httle  Mignon. 
I  will  do  all  that  you  tell  me,  for  I  love  you  in  the 
superlative  degree.  I  was  charmed  and  am  so  still, 
with  the  little  inchnation  of  the  head  that  the  King 
made  me  when  I  took  leave  ;  but  vexed  that  you  did  not 
seem  grieved  at  my  departure.  You  looked  beautiful 
as  an  angel. 

"  (Signed)    Louis  Auguste  de  Bourbon." 

Madame  de  Maintenon  wrote  once  a  week  to  Madame  de 
Montespan  ;  but  much  oftener  to  the  King,  the  father  of 
her  charge.     He  was  much  struck  by  the  cleverness  and 


DUC  DU  MAINE'S  JOURNEY  TO  BAREGE  93 

charm  of  these  letters  ^  (which  enhanced  his  already  high 
opinion  of  Madame  de  Maintenon),  and  he  preserved  them 
all  in  a  private  casket. 

On  the  return  journey  Madame  de  Maintenon  revisited 
the  places  where  her  childhood  and  early  years  had  been 
passed  ;  and  the  contrast  between  then  and  now  must  have 
been  a  subject  of  great  thankfulness  to  her.  But  she 
showed  no  elation,  no  airs  to  those  who  had  formerly 
slighted  her,  and  now  loaded  her  with  attentions. 

Writing  to  her  brother,  she  says  : — 

"  I  have  much  to  tell  you  of  Poitou.  I  lodged  at  the 
Ursuline  Convent  of  Niort,^  but  I  had  to  spend  several 
days  and  nights  at  the  Villette's  house  [her  aunt's]. 
There  is  no  sort  of  consideration  they  did  not  show  me. 
I  spent  three  days  at  Surineau,^  where  I  had  never  been 
before.  M.  de  Sensac  was  not  there,  but  M.  de  Laune 
and  I  got  on  very  well— and  Mademoiselle  de  Sensac 
devoted  herself  to  me.  I  was  overwhelmed  with 
visitors  and  had  not  a  moment  to  myself. 

"At  Niort  I  was  loaded  with  honours.  M. 
rintendant  entertained  me  when  we  passed  through 
Poitiers.  Madame  and  Mademoiselle  de  Ligne  came  to 
see  me  and  I  have  obtained  the  History  of  my  Grand- 
father that  is  his  Autobiography  and  several  documents 
which  prove  our  nobility,  if  anyone  should  try  to  dispute 
it.    Among  these  documents  are  proofs  of  our  right 

^  Several  thousand  of  Madame  de  Maintenon's  letters  have  been  pre- 
served and  pubhshed.  Napoleon  read  some  of  them  at  St  Helena  and 
said  :  "  The  style,  the  grace,  the  purity  of  the  language  enchant  me, 
I  prefer  these  letters  to  those  of  Madame  de  Sevign6— they  tell  one  more.'' 

The  Queen  of  Spain,  writing  to  Madame  de  Maintenon,  said  :  "  You 
excuse  yourself  for  not  writing  to  me  by  saying  you  do  not  know  how  to 
fill  your  letters,  it  is  enough  for  you  to  write  or  say  anything  for  people 
to  take  pleasure  in  hearing  it— for  you  give  a  pecuUar  and  pleasing  turn 
to  all  your  expressions." 

*  Where  she  had  been  a  boarder  formerly. 

»  Here  Uved  the  married  daughter  of  the  other  aunt,  Madame  de 
Caumont  d'Ade. 


94 


MADAME  DE  MAINTENON 


H 


to  Surineau,  and  we  might  take  proceedings  against 
the  usurpers.  If  I  do  not  do  so,  it  is  not  out  of  pity  for 
M.  de  Sensac,  who  was  pitiless  to  my  Mother,  but  for 
the  daughters  whom  I  do  not  wish  to  ruin." 

Artemise  de  Sensac,  who  had  married  M.  de  Laune  de 
Sensac,  was  daughter  of  Constantine  d*Aubigne's  second 
sister,  and  was  consequently  first  cousin  to  Madame  de 
Maintenon  and  her  brother,  who  were  both  fond  of  her.i 
They  were  both  now  weU  provided  for  and  could  afford  to 
be  generous,  and  took  no  steps  to  recover  their  property— 
indeed,  Madame  de  Maintenon  returned  good  for  evil,  for 
at  a  later  date  she  brought  the  grandchildren  of  both  her 
aunts  (Mesdames  de  Villette  and  de  Caumont  d'Ade)  to 
Court,  took  charge  of  their  education  and  established  them 

in  life. 

The  waters  of  Barege  proved  a  great  success.  The  Due 
du  Maine  gradually  recovered  the  use  of  his  hmbs  and  was 
able  to  accompany  Madame  de  Maintenon  on  her  visits 
of  charity  to  the  poor  of  the  neighbourhood.  She  wished 
to  instil  into  his  mind  feelings  of  sympathy  for  the  poor  and 
suffering,  and  the  duty  of  helping  them,  and  he  took 
pleasure  in  distributing  the  alms  himself.  Wishing  to 
make  a  thank  offering  for  his  improved  health,  she  decided 
to  give  pensions  to  some  of  the  most  needy,  and  told  them 
that  they  need  never  fear  want  again,  as  the  son  of  King 
Louis  XIV.  would  take  upon  himself  their  maintenance. 

The  parliaments  of  Toulouse  and  Navarre  sent  deputa- 
tions to  salute  the  prince  and  accompany  him  to  the  Hmits 
of  their  territories,  and  he  and  his  suite  went  home, 
travelhng  by  gentle  stages  through  Languedoc,  I'Agenois, 
Guienne,  Saintonge,  Poitou,  Touraine,  Orleans  and  ITsle 

*  Her  descendants  are  still  living  at  Surineau. 


DUC  DU  MAINE'S  JOURNEY  TO  BARfeCE  95 

de  France.  This  journey  taught  the  little  prince  more 
geography  than  he  would  have  learned  in  a  long  time  from 
books,  and  as  they  passed  old  fortresses,  monasteries  and 
castles,  celebrated  in  the  history  of  France,  Madame  de 
Maintenon  did  not  fail  to  tell  him  (in  the  interesting  manner 
for  which  she  was  famous)  many  attractive  tales  of  the 
events  of  bygone  days  :  the  doughty  deeds,  the  crimes, 
the  misfortunes  and  the  triumph  of  his  ancestors,  the 
Kings  of  France. 

The  travellers  returned  to  Paris  a  day  eariier  than  they 
were  expected.  When  the  King  saw  the  Due  du  Maine 
enter  his  Cabinet  and  walk  firmly  towards  him,  he  covered 
him  with  caresses,  and  turning  to  Madame  de  Maintenon, 
said,  "  Ah  !  madame !  what  a  pleasure  you  have  been  the 
means  of  giving  me.*' 

The  King  dined  that  day  en  famille  and  by  his  orders 
Madame  de  Maintenon  was  placed  opposite  to  him,  and 
during  the  repast  all  his  attentions  were  directed  to  her. 
Madame  de  Montespan  and  her  sister,  the  Abbesse  de 
Fontevrault,  had  to  endure  this  with  as  good  a  grace  as  they 
could.  Shortly  afterwards  the  King  made  Madame  de 
Maintenon  a  present  of  an  elegant  carriage  with  a  superb 
pair  of  horses. 

The  courtiers  now  began  to  see  that  Madame  de 
Maintenon's  influence  was  increasing,  and  that  she  was 
a  person  to  be  taken  account  of.  The  great  Minister 
Louvois,  who  was  not  a  man  to  indulge  in  gratuitous 
pohteness,  and  had  hitherto  hardly  deigned  to  be  aware  of 
her  existence,  now  hearing  of  the  favour  shown  her  by  the 
King,  his  praises  of  her  letters  and  the  thanks  with  which 
he  had  honoured  her,  hastened  to  pay  his  respects  to 
Madame  la  Gouvernante  ;    asked  for  an  account  of  the 


96 


MADAME  DE  MAINTENON 


journey,  listened  with  flattering  attention,  smiled  a 
hundred  times,  pronounced  her  narration  "  perfect  "  ; 
said  the  Due  du  Maine  was  fortunate  in  having  such  a 
lady  to  take  care  of  him,  and  that  he  had  a  most  intelligent 
countenance  and  manners  worthy  of  his  rank. 

"  Madame,"  said  Louvois,  "  henceforth  you  must  con- 
sider me  at  your  orders,  it  wiU  be  a  privilege  to  oblige  you. 
I  know  your  brother,  he  is  only  a  simple  cavalry  captain. 
You  might  well  scold  me,  we  must  put  that  right." 

A  few  days  afterwards  Comte  d'Aubigne  was  gazetted  a 
colonel,  and  promoted  from  the  governorship  of  Amersfort 
to  that  of  Belfort  in  Alsace. 

The  Due  du  Maine's  deUcate  health  was  the  cause  of  a 
physical  timidity  which  he  never  overcame,  but  he  was 
full  of  wit  and  inteUigence,  and  his  bon  mots  were  quoted 

by  ''  all  Paris." 

After  the  taking  of  Ghent  he  wrote  to  his  father  :—■ 

"  Sire, If  your  Majesty  continues  to  take  cities,  it  is 

decided  I  must  be  an  ignoramus  ;  for  when  the  news 
arrives  my  tutor  never  fails  to  make  me  leave  my  books. 
I  am  only  leaving  this  letter,  which  I  have  the  honour  of 
writing  to  you,  to  go  out  and  make  a  bonfire." 

Nevertheless  at  seven  years  old  he  was  looked  upon  as  a 
little  prodigy,  and  his  compositions  and  letters  were  pub- 
hshed  under  the  title  of  "  Various  Works  by  a  Seven-year- 
old  Author."  Madame  de  Maintenon  loved  him  tenderly, 
and  a  word  or  a  look  from  her  was  enough  to  obtain  instantly 
from  him  an  obedience  obstinately  refused  to  others.  She 
said  he  was  such  good  company  that  she  wanted  no  other. 
They  were  inseparable.  As  he  grew  up  he  continued  to  be 
studious,  and  his  mind  was  bright  and  active. 

Madame  de  Maintenon  was  entirely  successful  in  imbuing 


DUG  DU  MAINE'S  JOURNEY  TO  BAREGE  97 

him  with  her  own  religious  principles,  and  all  through  his 
life  he  was  very  devout. 

In  spite  of  his  lack  of  martial  qualities  the  Due  du  Maine 
was  always  the  favourite  son  of  Louis  XIV.,  and  he  wished 
to  provide  for  him  by  obtaining  for  him  a  portion  of  the 
great  wealth  of  his  cousin,  Mademoiselle  d'Orieans,  la 
Grande  Mademoiselle.^ 

Having  refused  three  kings  in  her  youth,  this  lady,  when 
over  forty  years  of  age,  fell  in  love  with,  and  wished  to 
marry,  the  captain  of  the  King's  bodyguard,  the  Marquis 
de  Lauzun.  The  King  at  first  granted,  and  then,  at  the 
last  moment,  refused  his  consent,  and  shut  up  Lauzun  in 
a  fortress.  There  he  languished  for  ten  years  ;  but  la 
Grande  Mademoiselle  remained  faithful  and  inconsolable. 
She  had  the  wisdom  not  to  break  with  the  King. 

One  day  he  said  to  Madame  de  Montespan  :  "  My  cousin 
is  beginning  to  look  up.  I  see  with  pleasure  that  her  com- 
plexion is  clearing,  that  she  often  laughs  at  my  remarks, 
and  that  her  good  will  for  me  is  restored.  She  is  fifty-two 
years  of  age,  she  is  very  fond  of  the  Due  du  Maine,  and 
might  be  inclined  to  make  a  will  in  his  favour.  I  am  told 
that  she  is  occupied  in  building  a  house  at  Choisy.  Let  us 
go  to-day  and  surprise  her  and  see  what  it  is  like." 

Accordingly  they  went  at  an  early  hour,  saw  the  house 
and  grounds,  with  which  the  King  was  delighted,  the  lovely 
gardens  high  above  the  Seine,  the  woods  intersected 
by  broad  walks,  the  points  of  view  happily  chosen ;  the 
house,  of  one  storey,  raised  on  steps  of  sixteen  stairs, 
appeared  elegant  from  its  novelty.  They  also  inspected  the 
picture  gallery  where  MademoiseUe  d'Orieans  had  coUected 

1  Daughter  of  Gaston  d'Orieans,  brother  of  Louis  XIII.  by  his  first 
wife,  Mademoiselle  de  Montpensier,  the  greatest  heiress  in  France. 


98 


MADAME  DE  MAINTENON 


portraits  of  all  her  ancestors  and  kindred.  There,  in  a 
place  of  honour,  was  the  Due  du  Maine,  as  colonel-general 
of  the  Swiss  Guard.  The  King  seized  the  opportunity  : 
**  I  have  a  service  to  ask  of  you,  ma  cousine.  I  see  with 
pleasure  that  you  have  the  portrait  of  my  son,  the  Due  du 
Maine,  here  ;  this  confirms  what  I  have  been  told  of  your 
affection  for  him.  He  is  growing  up  and  I  am  going  to 
give  him  an  establishment ;  would  it  be  agreeable  to  you 
if  I  give  him  your  livery  ?  " 

"  M.  le  Due  du  Maine,"  replied  la  Grande  Mademoiselle, 
"  is  the  type  of  what  is  gracious  and  noble  and  beautiful, 
he  can  only  do  honour  to  my  livery.  I  grant  it  him  with 
all  my  heart,  since  you  do  me  the  favour  of  desiring  it. 
Would  I  were  in  a  position  to  do  more  for  him  !  " 

The  King  perfectly  understood  these  last  words,  and  said 
no  more.  A  very  pretty  collation  of  confitures  and  fruits 
was  served  to  the  visitors,  to  which,  by  request  of  the 
King,^  a  roast  fowl  and  a  ragout  of  peas  was  added,  and 
then  they  returned  to  Paris.  Madame  de  Montespan  had, 
however,  seen,  in  Mademoiselle  d'Orleans  private  room,  the 
portrait  of  Lauzun,  and  had  gathered  from  her  that  her 
affection  for  him  was  undiminished.  So  she  said  to  the 
King :  "  If  you  were  to  show  some  clemency  to  M.  de 
Lauzun,  I  think  Mademoiselle  d'Orleans  would  be  more 
inclined  to  meet  yaur  wishes  with  regard  to  our  son." 

He  shrugged  his  shoulders,  saying :  **  Is  it  possible  that 
at  fifty-two  years  of  age  she  is  still  so  infatuated  ?  Well, 
a  captivity  of  ten  years  is  a  rough  school  for  presumption. 
Lauzun  may  have  learned  wisdom ;  it  is  time,  perhaps,  to 
show  a  httle  clemency." 

1  We  hear  often  of  the  immense  appetite  of  the  King  and  the  quantities 
of  food  he  devoured  at  one  meal. 


LOUIS   AL'(;USTE    DH    BOI:kK(»N,    Dl'C    l)V  MAINE 
Ftoiii  the  liiblioti'ujue  Xatioiiale 


lil! 


m 

m 


DUG  DU  MAINE^S  JOURNEY  TO  BARfeGE  99 

Finally  it  was  agreed  that  Madame  de  Maintenon  should 
be  sent  on  an  embassy  to  Choisy,  her  known  attachment 
to  the  Due  du  Maine  making  it  certain  that  his  interests 
could  not  be  in  better  hands.  So  she  set  out,  accompanied 
by  the  Due  du  Maine,  who  thanked  Mademoiselle  d'Orl^ans 
for  the  favours  she  had  done  him  in  granting  him  per- 
mission to  assume  her  colours.  They  were  very  cordially 
received  and  the  Due  du  Maine  was  shown  his  picture  in 
the  uniform  of  the  Swiss  Guard.  Mademoiselle  d'Orleans 
also  showed  them  her  own  portrait,  adorned  with  a  scaled 
cuirass  and  a  laurel  crown.  The  Due  du  Maine  praised 
the  picture,  saying,  with  naivete :  "  It  is  good,  but  you  are 
better." 

This  compHment  made  Mademoiselle  shed  tears.  "  You 
have  brought  him  up  perfectly,"  she  said  to  Madame  de 
Maintenon.  ''  This  is  how  a  King's  son  ought  to  act  and 
speak." 

She  afterwards  took  Madame  de  Maintenon  to  her 
bedroom  and  showed  her  the  portrait  of  Lauzun. 

"  Ah,  princess,  why  do  you  give  yourself  this  torture, 
constantly  keeping  before  your  eyes  this  reminder  of  your 
sorrow.    Put  it  away  till  a  happier  hour." 

''  That  hour  will  never  come  !  "   cried  Mademoiselle. 

"  Pardon  me,"  returned  Madame  de  Maintenon,  "  the 
King  is  never  inhuman.  Where  he  punishes  it  is  against 
his  will,  and  as  soon  as  he  can  relent,  without  danger  or 
impropriety,  he  pardons.  I  am  well  informed,  and  I  assure 
you  he  would  not  think  you  importunate  if  you  made  an 
attempt  to  move  him  to  clemency." 

"  I  will  do  anything  he  Hkes,"  said  Mademoiselle.  "  As 
for  you,  madame,  I  know  the  King  considers  your  services 
to  his  children  invaluable.     Deign  to  use  your  influence 


lOO 


MADAME  DE  MAINTENON 


in  favour  of  my  unhappy  Lauzun  and  I  will  make  you  a 
present  of  one  of  my  estates." 

Madame  de  Maintenon  answered  that  to  please  the  King 
such  a  generous  gift  should  be  offered  to  the  Due  du  Maine, 
and  that  the  assuring  a  part  of  her  inheritance  to  that  young 
prince  would  be  a  certain  method  of  moving  the  monarch's 
paternal  gratitude  to  favourable  concessions. 

"  Be  good  enough  to  inform  his  Majesty,"  said 
Mademoiselle  d'Orleans,  "  that  I  offer  to  give  to  his  dear 
and  amiable  child,  at  once,  the  county  of  Eu  and  my 
sovereignty  of  Dombes,  with  their  revenues.  In  return  I 
only  ask  that  the  Marquis  de  Lauzun  be  released  from 

prison."  ^ 

This  matter  was  soon  arranged,  and  henceforth  the  Due 
du  Maine  was  looked  upon  as  la  Grande  Mademoiselle's 

adopted  son. 

Louis  XIV.,  at  the  death  of  Henri  IV.'s  natural  son,  the 
Due  de  Vemeuil,  made  the  Due  du  Maine  Governor  of 
Languedoc,  and  he  became  the  most  wealthy  prince  in 

France. 

He  married  a  Princess  of  the  Blood,  daughter  of  M.  le 

Prince  de  Conde. 

When  he  grew  up  he  remained  devoted  to  Madame  de 
Maintenon.  On  one  occasion,  when  she  had  feared  he 
was  acquiring  dissipated  habits  and  had  expressed  her 
displeasure  to  him,  he  wrote  the  following  letter  : — 

"  I  am  in  despair  because  you  have  had  to  blush  for 
me.     From  this  moment  I  give  up  tric-trac;   if  you 

*  The  bad  return  for  her  devotion  made  to  Mademoiselle  d'Orleans  by 
the  worthless  Lauzun  is  well  known  to  the  world,  and  full  particulars  are 
found  in  her  own  Memoirs.  She  is  more  often  called  Mademoiselle  de 
Montpensier,  her  mother's  name. 


DUG  DU  MAINE'S  JOURNEY  TO  BAREGE   loi 

desire  it  I  will  also  give  up  hunting,  my  chief  pleasure. 
In  fact  there  is  nothing  that  I  will  not  do  to  avoid  being 
on  bad  terms  with  you.  I  am  sure  your  displeasure 
cannot  last  long.  I  could  not  endure  hfe  if  you  ceased 
to  love  me,  and  to  take  that  part  in  my  life  which  the 
affection  I  feel,  and  always  shall  feel  for  you,  deserves. 
"  (Signed)  Louis  Auguste  de  Bourbon." 


w 


CHAPTER   IX 

MADAME   DE  MAINTENON'S  PROGRESS  IN  FAVOUR 

AFTER  the  return  from  Barege  the  King  always 
caused  Madame  de  Maintenon  to  be  invited  to 
his  pet'Us-soupers,a.nd  showed  marked  pleasure 
in  her  society.  This  was  far  from  pleasing  to 
Madame  de  Montespan,  who  united  with  the  Duchesse  de 
Richeheu  in  endeavouring  to  persuade  Madame  de 
Maintenon  to  listen  favourably  to  the  suit  of  the  Due  de 
Villiers-Brancas,  an  elderly  nobleman  who  was  very 
anxious  to  marry  her,  and  would  have  taken  her  away 
from  Court  to  reside  on  his  estate.  But  Fran9oise 
d'Aubigne  had  no  wish  for  another  marriage  of  convenience, 
nor  did  she  like  the  Duke ;  so  she  replied  that  she  valued 
her  liberty,  and  that  the  title  of  Duchesse  could  not 
guarantee  her  happiness.  Nevertheless,  owing  to  the 
capricious  humour  of  Madame  de  Montespan,  her  position 
was  a  very  unpleasant  one.  Had  it  not  been  for  her  love 
for  the  Due  du  Maine  she  would  have  thrown  up  her  post. 
She  wrote  at  this  time  : — 

"  The  Due  du  Maine  is  always  ill,  and  I  cannot  help 
suffering.  It  is  terrible  to  see  those  we  love  suffer.  It 
is  a  weakness  to  be  so  fond  of  a  child  of  whose  future  I 
J  cannot  dispose ;  who  if  he  shows  me  affection  dis- 
pleases his  mother,  and  if  he  turns  out  badly  in  after  Ufe 
will  kill  me  with  grief." 

She  wrote  tocher  friend,  Madame  de  St  G6ran  : — 

soa 


MADAME  DE  MAINTENON'S  PROGRESS    103 

**  Madame  de  Montespan  can  be  irresistibly  charming 
but  only  by  fits  and  starts,  she  is  never  two  days  in  the 
same  mind.  I  am  quite  fatigued  with  all  her  scenes, 
her  fits  of  anger  and  reconciliation. 

**  I  envy  your  tranquillity.  You  can  serve  God  in 
peace.  If  you  were  in  my  place  for  a  fortnight  you 
would  know  how  to  value  your  own." 

The  strained  relations  between  Madame  de  Montespan 
and  Madame  de  Maintenon  continued  till  the  latter  was 
made  lady-in-waiting  to  the  Dauphiness  and  ceased  to 
reside  under  the  same  roof  as  Madame  de  Montespan. 
After  that  they  only  met  occasionally,  or  at  pubUc 
functions,  when  they  greeted  each  other  politely  and 
exchanged  a  few  words. 

I  Madame  de  Maintenon  had  never  shrunk  from  telling 
the  mother  of  her  pupils  that  her  relations  with  the  King 
were  sinful.  She  said  :  "  If  ever  such  a  passion  were 
pardonable,  it  would  be  yours  for  the  King,  on  account  of 
his  merit ;  but  I  shall  always  say  it  is  not  excusable  in  the 
sight  of  God  or  even  of  men." 

The  Bishop  of  Condon,  Bossuet,  had  made  a  great  effort 
to  induce  the  King  to  break  off  his  intimacy  with  Madame 
de  Montespan,  and  with  this  view  had  caused  forty  hours' 
prayer  to  be  offered  in  the  churches. 

The  Kingspoke  of  this  to  Madame  de  Maintenon.  *'  Sire, " 
she  said,  "  Madame  de  Montespan  is  dear  to  you,  and  gave 
herself  to  you  by  excess  of  love  ;  but  it  was  a  selfish  love, 
which  wounded  her  husband  and  your  wife,  dishonoured 
herself  and  her  son,  and  connected  scandal  with  your  name, 
to  the  sorrow  of  all  that  is  best  in  France.  Your  Majesty 
must  pardon  my  extreme  frankness  ;  I  would  shed  my 
blood  to  serve  you.  Before  being  called  to  the  charge 
which  you  have  confided  to  me,  I  mixed  much  in  the  world, 


J 


ill 


104 


MADAME  DE  MAINTENON 


where  opinions  are  freely  expressed,  and  I  know  public 
opinion.  Both  high  and  low  cherish  your  Majesty  ;  there 
is  not  a  Frenchman  who  does  not  admire  your  indefatigable 
zeal  and  your  industry  in  your  councils,  your  heroism  in 
war,  your  skill  in  keeping  the  balance  of  power  in  Europe, 
but  all  regret  that  a  fatal  passion  has  tarnished  these 
brilliant  qualities.  Where  would  society  be,  where  would 
be  the  peace  of  your  kingdom,  if  everyone  gave  rein  to 
their  desire,  as  your  Majesty  has,  alas,  given  them  the 
example ;  and  what  would  you  do  to  your  Captain  of  the 
Guard,  if  you  were  told  he  had  taken  away  another  man's 
wife  ?     Would  you  not  dismiss  him  at  once  ?  " 

"Madame,"  replied  Louis,  "I  never  hate  the  truth; 
from  your  mouth  it  is  less  bitter  than  it  might  be  from  that 
of  others.*' 

Bossuet  obtained  from  the  King  a  letter  to  his  mistress, 
informing  her  of  his  decision  to  break  their  connection. 
So  Bossuet  thought ;  and  he  himself  took  the  letter  to 
Madame  de  Montespan. 

The  King's  letters  are  always  sealed,  and  this  one, 
instead  of  a  renunciation,  contained  the  tenderest  ex- 
pressions. 

Madame  de  Montespan  read  and  reread  it,  then,  con- 
cealing her  joy,  she  begged  the  bishop  to  wait  while  she 
wrote  an  answer,  and  rapidly  inscribed  a  few  lines  which 
breathed  all  her  old  passion  and  devotion  to  the  King. 
Sealing  her  note  she  gave  it  to  Bossuet,  who  remitted  it  to 
the  King. 

For  several  days  Bossnet  continued  to  be  the  bearer  of 
missives  between  the  King  and  his  mistress,  and  soon 
learned  that  his  efforts  had  only  reunited  the  guilty  couple. 

In  the  height  of  her  beauty  Madame  de^Montespan  had 


MADAME  DE  MAINTENON'S  PROGRESS    105 

charms  against  the  magical  power  of  which  the  eloquence 
of  Bossnet  or  Madame  de  Maintenon  were  powerless. 

The  latter  writes  to  the  Comtesse  de  St  Geran  in 
1876  :— 

"  M.  de  Condon  (Bossnet)  has  in  this  affair  played 
the  part  of  a  dupe.  He  is  very  clever,  but  not  with  the 
cleverness  necessary  at  a  Court. 

"  He  wished  to  convert  them,  but  has  brought  them 
together  again. ^ 

"  All  these  plans  are  useless  ;  only  Pere  de  la  Chaise 
could  accomplish  a  separation.  He  has  deplored  to 
me,  a  thousand  times,  the  irregularities  of  the  King  ; 
but  why  does  he  not  absolutely  refuse  him  the 
Sacrament  ? 

"  Pere  de  la  Chaise  is  an  honest  man,  but  the  air  of 
the  Court  spoils  the  purest  virtue,  and  softens  the  most 
inflexible  severity." 

Madame  de  Montespan 's  absence  from  Court  was  a  short 
one.  About  this  time  Madame  de  Sevigne  wrote  to  her 
daughter,  giving  an  account  of  a  day  at  Court,  and 
Montespan's  surpassing  beauty.     She  writes  : — 

"  I  was  at  Versailles  on  Saturday,  with  the  Villars. 
You  know  the  routine  :  the  Queen's  toilet,  the  Mass, 
the  dinner.  But  one  is  not  now  suffocated  while  their 
Majesties  dine  ;  for  at  three  o'clock  the  King,  the  Queen, 
Monsieur,  Madame,^  Mademoiselle,  all  the  Princes 'and 
Princesses,  Madame  de  Montespan  and  all  her  suite, 
all  the  ladies  and  courtiers,  in  fact  all  that  is  called  the 
Court  of  France,  resort  to  that  splendid  apartment  of 
the  King,  which  you  know.  It  is  beautifully  furnished. 
In  spite  of  the  numbers  of  people,  one  is  not  too  hot, 
and  can  pass  from  one  place  to  another  without  pushing. 
A  game  of  Reversi  was  being  played.     The  King  was  by 

*  Louis  afterwards  made  his  peace  with  the  bishop  and  loaded  him 
with  honours. 

•  Monsieur  and   Madame   were    the   King's   brother  and   his  vnfe. 
Mademoiselle  was  Mademoiselle  de  Montpensier. 


,f 


io6 


MADAME  DE  MAINTENON 


Madame  de  Montespan,  who  held  the  cards.  Monsieur, 
the  Queen,  Madame  de  Soubise,  Dangeau  and  Co. 
Langlee  and  Co.  were  playing.  I  saluted  the  King, 
and  he  returned  my  salutation,  as  if  I  were  young  and 
beautiful.  The  Queen  spoke  of  my  late  ilhiess ; 
Madame  de  Montespan  recommended  me  the  Waters  of 
Bourbon.  Seriously  her  beauty  is  something  surprising. 
She  is  more  slender  than  she  used  to  be,  but  her  eyes, 
her  complexion,  her  lips  have  not  suffered.  She  was 
dressed  in  point  lace  ;  her  hair  arranged  in  a  thou- 
sand curls,  intertwined  with  pearls  and  black  ribbons. 
She  wore  diamonds  and  brilliants.  In  a  word :  a 
triumphant  beauty  to  dazzle  ambassadors.  She  knew 
that  all  France  complained  that  she  used  to  keep  the 
King  from  being  seen  by  those  who  have  a  right  to  his 
society  ;  so  she  has  given  him  back  to  them,  and  this 
has  caused  inexpressible  pleasure.  The  Court  lasts 
from  three  to  six  o'clock.  If  Couriers  arrive  the  King 
retires  for  a  few  minutes  to  read  despatches,  and  then 
returns.  He  converses  with  ladies  who  are  accustomed 
to  this  honour.  There  is  music  going  on.  At  six 
o'clock  the  assembly  disperses.  The  King,  Madame 
de  Montespan  and  her  sister,  and  Monsieur  and  Madame 
in  a  caleche  ;  the  Queen  and  Princesses  in  another ; 
the  rest  of  the  world  as  they  please.  They  go  on  the 
canal  in  painted  gondolas.  Midnight  sounds  and  the 
Court  goes  to  supper."  .  .  . 


i 


CHAPTER   X 

MADAME   DE   MAINTENON 's   POSITION   AT  COURT 

MADAME  DE  MAINTENON  having  ex- 
pressed  herself  so  strongly  both  to  the  King 
and  Madame  de  Montespan  on  the  subject 
of  their  connection,  they  did  not  venture  to 
ask  her  to  take  charge  of  the  two  children  that  were 
subsequently  born — Mademoiselle  de  Blois  and  the  Comte 
de  Toulouse.  The  Due  du  Maine  had  grown  up  and  the 
completion  of  the  education  of  Mademoiselle  de  Nantes 
was  entrusted  to  the  Marquise  de  Montchevrueil,  who 
brought  her  former  pupil  to  visit  Madame  de  Maintenon 
frequently,  and  the  King  often  chose  these  times  as  a 
plausible  pretext  for  his  visits. 

He  had  given  Madame  de  Maintenon  a  handsome  set  of 
apartments  at  Versailles  close  to  those  of  the  Queen,^ 
and  was  waiting  for  an  opportunity  to  confer  on  her  an 
appointment  that  would  retain  her  permanently  at  Court. 
This  opportunity  was  afforded  by  the  marriage  of  the 
Dauphin,  who  had  attained  the  age  of  eighteen,  to  Maria 
Christina  of  Bavaria.  Madame  de  Maintenon  was 
appointed  her  lady-in- waiting, ^  the  other  being  the 
Marquise  de  Rochefort,  wife  of  the  Marechal. 

^  Letter  to  Madame  St  Geran  at  this  time  :  "  The  King  did  me  the 
honour  to  pay  me  a  visit  this  morning  while  I  was  still  at  my  toilet.  I 
am  getting  to  look  younger — my  httle  Prince  remarked  this  to  me  in  a 
very  agreeable  manner. 

•A   Dame  d' A  tours   ranked  after  a  maid -of- honour,  and  l)efore  a 

107 


io8 


MADAME  DE  MAINTENON 


rV 


Madame  de  Maintenon  would  have  infinitely  preferred 
to  go  and  live  in  independence  in  her  little  kingdom  at 
Maintenon.  But  then,  as  ever,  the  King's  will  was  her 
law ;  she  never  thought  it  possible  to  consider  her  pre- 
ferences if  contrary  to  his  wishes. 

^ "  My  long  services  have  made  me  desire  retirement/' 
she  said,  "  but  if  the  King,  to  whom  I  owe  everything, 
desire  roe  to  remain  at  Court,  and  undertake  the  task  of 
forming  our  young  Bavarian  Princess  in  the  manners  of 
this  country,  have  I  the  right  to  refuse  ?  ") 

To  another  person,  who  ventured,  while  congratulating 
her,  to  insinuate  that  she  ought  to  think  herself  very 
highly  honoured  by  her  appointment  to  such  a  post,  she 
repHed  :  **  My  grandfather  was  first  gentleman  of  the 
chamber  to  the  great  King  Henri  IV.,  why  should  it  be 
thought  remarkable  that  his  granddaughter  should  be 
given  the  post  of  lady-in-waiting  to  a  king's  daughter- 
in-law  ?  *' 

Madame  de  Maintenon  was  always  proud  of  her  descent. 
When  she  had  visited  relations  on  her  journey  with  the 
Due  du  Maine  to  Barege  they  had  received  her  with  great 
cordiality,  and  though  they  forbore  to  restore  to  her  any 
part  of  the  d'Aubigne  property  to  which  she  was  entitled, 
they  made  over  to  her  the  family  pedigree  which  set  forth 
her  ancestry,  and  she  laughingly  said  she  was  more  con- 
cerned about  this  than  about  the  property. 

According  to  this  pedigree  Madame  de  Maintenon  could 
count  on  her  father's  side  seventeen  degrees  of  nobility, 
dating  from  Geoffroi  d'Aubigne  in  1160  a.d.,  and  the  name 

Dame  du  Palais.  She  had  charge  of  everything  connected  with  the 
toilet,  and  presented  the  saucer  on  which  the  Dauphiness  placed  her 
rings  and  jewellery  before  going  to  bed. 


MADAME  DE  MAINTENON'S  POSITION    109 

of  d'Aubigne  as  property  holders  is  found  in  the  archives 
of  the  tenth  century.  These,  however,  were  the  d'Aubignes 
of  Anjou,  who  had  intermarried  with  the  Poitevin  family. 
The  noblest  families  of  France  had  not  more  to  boast  of. 

The  Dictionnaire  Historique  et  Genealogique  des  families 
de  Poitou  says  that  the  claims  to  nobility  of  the 
family  of  Theodore  Agrippa  d'Aubigne  were  not  well 
founded,!  and  that  he  himself  invented  the  connection 
with  the  d'Aubignes  of  Anjou,  whose  ancient  descent  was 
well  authenticated.  It  is  said  that  Theodore  Agrippa 
was  the  son  of  a  judge  of  bourgeois  ancestry.  When 
Madame  de  Maintenon's  brother  Charles  was  about  to  be 
made  a  companion  of  the  Order  of  the  St  Esprit,  it  was 
necessary  for  him  to  prove  three  degrees  of  paternal 
nobility.  Hozier,  whose  business  it  was  to  decide  such 
matters,  refused  at  first  to  accept  the  proofs  offered. 

Madame  de  Maintenon,  commenting  on  this,  wrote : — 
"  The  King  cannot  understand,  any  better  than  I  can,  how 
the  proofs  can  be  considered  as  falsified." 

Finally  the  matter  was  compromised  by  putting  in,  with 
regard  to  Charles  d'Aubigne's  great  grandfather,  the 
words,  "said  to  be"  connected  with  the  d'Aubignes  of 
An j  ou .  Perhaps  Theodore  Agrippa  d'Aubigne  was  his  own 
ancestor.2 

At  a  later  date,  when  the  subject  of  the  noble  descent 

*  See  A.  de  Boislisle's,  "  Paul  Scarron  and  F.  d'Aubigne." 
«  In  a  letter  to  her  brother,  28th  May  1682,  she  said  :  "  I  have  made  the 
acquaintance  of  M.  le  Marquis  and  M.  I'Abbe  d'Aubigne  de  Tigny.  from 
Anjou.  They  have  given  me  information  about  our  family.  It  is  late 
to  find  out  who  we  were,  but  I  could  not  fail  to  be  pleased  at  seeing  a 
genealogy  comprising  400  years,  also  a  table  of  marriages  and  proof  of 
the  period  when  our  branch  separated  from  the  d'Aubigne's  of  Anjou.*' 
Years  afterwards  she  learned  to  think  this  a  very  unimportant  matter, 
and  said  :  "  Perhaps  the  pedigree  was  only  drawn  up  to  give  pleasure  to  a 
person  in  high  favour  at  Court  as  I  was." 


no 


MADAME  DE  MAINTENON 


m 


^ 


of  their  foundress  was  brought  up,  the  ladies  of  St  Cyr 
said  :  "  Merit  is  personal  and  one  thing  is  certain  that 
Theodore  Agrippa  d'Aubigne  was  a  great  gentleman  and 
honoured  by  the  great  King  Henri  IV." 

Madame  de  Maintenon,  and  Bossuet,  the  Grand  Almoner, 
were  sent  to  meet  the  bride  at  Schalestadt.  The  former's 
reputation  had  spread  to  foreign  Courts  and  the  bride 
regarded  this  celebrated  personage  with  great  curiosity. 
But  though  Madame  de  Maintenon  fulfilled  the  duties 
of  the  position  with  as  much  ease  and  grace  as  if  she  had 
never  done  anything  else  in  all  her  Ufe,  she  never  succeeded 
in  winning  the  affection  of  this  Princess,  who  affected 
to  think  her  a  nobody,  raised  from  a  low  station  to  a 
position  to  which  she  had  no  right. 

The  King  often  visited  his  daughter-in-law  and  treated 
her  very  kindly,  but  she  was  not  slow  to  perceive  that  he 
paid  more  attention  to  her  lady-in-waiting,  and  took 
greater  pleasure  in  talking  to  her  than  to  herself,  which  did 
not  increase  her  hking  for  the  lady.  It  must  also  be 
admitted  that  Madame  de  Maintenon  tried  to  treat  the 
Dauphiness  too  much  as  a  child,  and  to  direct  all  her 
actions  ;  while  the  latter  wished  to  assert  her  independence 
as  a  young  married  lady  and  to  emancipate  herself,  and 
was  very  impatient  of  Madame  de  Maintenon 's  advice  and 
lectures. 

We  are  inclined  to  think  that  Madame  de  Maintenon's 
mania  for  giving  good  advice  to  each  and  all  must  have  been 
somewhat  irritating,  and  the  younger  generation  certainly 
foimd  it  so  ;  whereas  the  King  and  her  contemporaries 
could  never  have  enough  of  it  apparently,  so  skilfully  did 
she  sugar  the  pill  with  honied  words. 

Madame  de  Maintenon  received  numerous  visits  from  all 


MADAME  DE   MAINTENON'S  POSITION     in 

sorts  and  conditions  of  people  connected  with  the  Court, 
now  that  she  was  a  person  of  importance.  Her  relatives 
thronged  her  ante-chamber.  Some  were  only  country 
squires ;  others,  hke  the  Marquis  de  Langallerie,  and  the 
Marquis  de  ViUette,  a  distinguished  naval  officer,  did 
credit  to  her  new  position. 

Madame  de  Maintenon  was  scrupulous  in  her  attentions 
to  the  Queen,  Marie  Ther^se,  who  had  become  very  fond 
of  her,  and  walked  about  with  her  and  took  her  on  her 
visits  to  the  Religious  Communities— which  seemed  as 
much  a  part  of  the  life  of  a  lady  of  rank  in  those  days  as 
the  hospitals  and  other  charitable  institutions  which 
absorb  so  much  of  the  time  of  the  great  ladies  of  the 
twentieth  century. 

"  The  Queen  liked  my  society,"  she  said,  '*  because  she 
finds  in  me  some  facility  for  the  Spanish  tongue,  which  is 
the  only  one  she  can  converse  in  easily.  It  amuses  her  to 
catch  me  up  when  I  go  wrong  either  in  pronunciation  or 
grammar,  as  she  desires  to  be  corrected  when  she  makes 
a  mistake  in  our  French." 

When  the  Queen  died  in  1683  she  declared  that  under 
God  she  owed  it  to  Madame  de  Maintenon  that  after 
twenty  years  of  neglect  the  King  had  begun  to  treat  her 
with  some  display  of  kindness  and  consideration. 

The  Dauphiness,  who  after  the  death  of  the  Queen  should 
have  been  the  first  lady  of  the  land,  had  been  brought  up 
at  a  petty  German  Court,  and  was  quite  at  a  loss  when 
brought  into  the  pohshed  circles  of  the  highest  French 
nobihty.  On  the  first  occasion  when  the  ladies  of  the 
Court  came  to  pay  their  respects  to  her  after  the  death  of 
the  Queen-Mother,  when  she  should  have  taken  her 
position  as  leader  of  society  at  the  French  Court,  the  King, 


'v 


112  MADAME   DE  MAINTENON 

knowing  that  she  had  not  the  qualifications  to  preside  over 
a  Court  circle,  where  good  manners  and  deportment  had 
been  cultivated  to  the  highest  pitch,  asked  Madame  de 
Maintenon,  the  lady-in-waiting,  to  throw  herself  into  the 
breach  and  make  things  pass  over  smoothly. 

One  who  was  present  remarks  :  "  It  must  be  admitted 
she  threw  her  heart  into  it,  she  drew  out  the  Dauphiness 
as  far  as  possible,  inspiring  her  every  moment  with  amiable 
questions  and  answers,  and  all  this  trouble  she  took  at  the 
King's  request,  for  a  young  princess  who  was  accustomed 
to  treat  her  with  scant  civility  "—for  though  she 
succeeded  in  winning  most  hearts,  she  had  failed  with  the 
wife  of  the  heir  to  the  throne— who  perhaps  resented  the 
charm  and  briUiancy  she  could  not  emulate,  and  felt 
herself  ecUpsed  by  her  lady-in-waiting. 

An  eye-witness,  who  disliked  Madame  de  Maintenon, 
says  :  "  In  her  magnificent  robe  of  ceremony,  with  train 
richly  embroidered  in  gold  and  jewels,  Madame  de 
Maintenon  could  not  fail  to  eclipse  the  Dauphiness  in 
every  way.  Although  forty-seven  years  of  age,  she  only 
appeared  thirty,  retaining  an  appearance  of  youth  and 
freshness  which  with  her  fine  figure  and  ethereal  carriage 
fascinated  all  beholders." 

About  this  time  Madame  de  Maintenon  brought  to  Court 
to  live  with  her  the  children  of  her  cousins,  M.  de  Villette 
and  Madame  de  Caumont  d'Ade,  and  Madame  St  Hermine.^ 
She  seems  to  have  been  actuated  by  two  motives,  one  to 

1  It  may  be  remembered  that  Constantine  d'Aubign^'s  sisters  had 
married,  the  one  M.  de  ViUette.  the  other  M.  de  Caumont  d' Ade.  Of  the 
children  that  Madame  de  Maintenon  now  took  charge  of,  the  Caumont 
d' Ades  were  grandchildren  of  the  latter,  while  the  Mursays  were  children 
of  M.  de  Villette  (who  had  succeeded  his  father),  and  the  St  Hermine's 
of  his  sister  (Magdalen  de  Villette),  Fran9oise  d'Aubign6's  foster-sister, 
who  had  married  M.  de  St  Hermine. 


MADAME  DE  MAINTENON'S  POSITION  113 
provide  for  their  future  and  another  to  convert  them  from 
Protestantism  to  Catholicism.  The  Villette  children-a 
son  and  daughter-she  obtained  by  a  subterfuge,  unknown 
to  their  parents,  through  the  intermediary  of  another 
relative-and  her  conduct  in  this  matter  has  been  so  often 
brought  up  against  her.  and  is  really  so  inexpUcable  that 
It  will  be  better  to  quote  her  own  words  in  defence 

On  23rd  December  1680,  she  wrote  to  Madame  de 
Villette,  who  was  a  CathoUc  :— 

„ni'i-^'^*i"^**-  ^  ^'^  persuaded  that  you  would  have  been 
wrUmg  to  give  me  your  daughter,  I  feel  you  neld  con" 
soling  for  her  absence.  She  shed  a  few  tears  when  she 
found  herself  alone  with  me  in  my  coach  but  soon 
recovered  her  spirits.  When  I  teU  her  that  she  wm 
soon  get  to  love  me,  she  rephes  that  she  does  so  dready 
I  have  been  teaching  her  to  read  and  embroider   and 

^rdlnrwdf  %'sT"^  ""*^^  "^«  assur^fm^rhe 
wiu  dance  well.    As  to  your  son  you  will  be  delighted 

to  hear  of  his  conversion.     He  performed  his  devSs 
yesterday,  and  the  Cure^  of  VersaiUes  who  instructed 
him  IS  well  content.     I  myself  see  no  faults  in  him 
except  that  perhaps  he  is  inclined  to  talk  too  much     I 
shaU  take  as  much  care  of  him  as  if  he  were  my  o^  son 
He  seems  tired  of  the  Navy.     If  he  is  to  join  the  Amiv  he 
must  learn  to  nde,  and  I  shaU  have  him  taught  to  d^nce 
The  King  has  taken  notice  of  him  and  wiU,^I  hope  Sve 
him  a  pension      I  was  obliged  to  deceive  you  in  carS 
off  your  daughter  as  had  it  been  done  with  your  kS 

^IU7  ^"'"f  t  ?^*^°"^'  y°"'  h"«band  wou  d  have 
suspected  you  of  being  my  accomplice  ;  now  he  cannot 
blame  anyone  but  me.     You  must  at  heart  be  diS 

Sign"^'"'  ''^*"^'°  °"  *^^  "S^*  ™^d  to  fortuSTnl 
To  M.  de  ViUette  she  wrote,  on  3rd  April  1681  :— 

"I  have  received  your  two  letters.     I  knew  that 
nothing  could  make  you  reaUy  angry  with  me     You 

^  Parish  Priest. 


114  MADAME   DE  MAINTENON 

are  too  just  to  doubt  my  motives.    To  please  God  wa5 
the  first  but  had  it  been  the  only  one,  other  souls  would 
have  been  as  precious  to  Him  as  those  of  your  children 
and  I  could  have  converted  some  who  would  have  cost 
me  less.     It  is  then  my  lifelong  friendship  for  you  which 
made  me  earnestly  desire  to  do  something  for  those 
nearest  and  dearest  to  you.     I  earned  ofi  your  daughter 
because  I  longed  to  have  her  with  me  and  deceived  your 
wife  that  you  might  not  be  able  to  blame  her     I  shaU 
wiUingly  take  charge  of  your  other  children  if  you  wiU 
send  them  to  me,  and  I  consider  it  impossible  to  give  a 
greater  proof  of  my  love  for  my  aunt  than  by  domg  for 
her  grandchildren  what  she  did  for  me.    i 

Knowing  her  aunt,  the  late  Madame  de  ViUette's  attach- 
ment to  the  Reformed  Rehgion.andto  her  father's  memory, 
it  is  difficult  to  conceive  how  Madame  de  Maintenon  could 
have  thought  she  honoured  her  memory  in  this  compulsory 
conversion  of  her  grandchildren.     It  is  strange  too  that 
Madame  de  Maintenon  should  have  forgotten  all  that  she 
herself  suffered  under  similar  circumstances.  >Had  she 
become  so  bigoted  a  CathoHc  as  to  think  there  was  no 
salvation  but  for  members  of  the  Catholic  Church  ?     Or 
was  she  actuated  by  worldly  motives,  and  the  knowledge 
that  the  adoption  of  the  King's  religion  was  a  necessity 
before  advancement   of   Court   favour  could  be  hoped 

for?  1 

In  the  best  of  lives  there  are  often  mconsistencies— 
and  this  action  of  Madame  de  Maintenon's  is  one— and 
one  that  it  is  hard  to  reconcile  with  her  usual  uprightness. 

Marguerite  de  Villette,^  Mademoiselle  de  Mursay,  soon 
accommodated  herself  to  her  new  circumstances.  In 
after  years,  when  writing  her  Souvenirs,  she  said  :— 

1  For  both  letters  see  M.  Geoffroy's,  "  Madame  de  Maintenon  d'aprds 
sa  Correspondance  authentique,"  pp  ii6,  119.  120. 
•  Afterwards  Madame  de  Caylus. 


MADAME  DE  MAINTENON'S  POSITION   115 

"I  cried  a  httle  at  first,  but  the  day  after  my  arrival 
I  was  present  at  the  King's  Mass,  and  I  thought  the 
ceremony  so  beautiful  that  I  consented  to  become  a 
Catholic  on  condition  that  I  might  attend  it  daily,  and 
that  they  would  promise  not  to  whip  me.  That  is  all 
the  controversy  there  was  as  to  my  conversion,  and  the 
only  abjuration  I  made." 

At  this  time  Mademoiselle  de  Mursay  was  ten  years  old. 
Madame  de  Maintenon  took  the  greatest  pains  with  her 
education.  Writing  to  her  mother  some  time  later,  she 
said  : — 

"  Mademoiselle  de  Mursay  is  much  occupied  with  her 
masters.  I  do  not  wish  to  make  her  a  virtuoso,  but  she 
has  to  employ  herself  with  them  because  I  cannot 
always  have  her  with  me  and  I  do  not  wish  her  to  learn 
folly  by  gossiping  with  the  waiting-maids.  The  instru- 
ment will  give  her  a  taste  for  music,  dancing  will  make 
her  graceful,  and  she  will  speak  better  French  when  she 
knows  the  rules  of  grammar." 

Mademoiselle  de  Mursay  was  especially  under  the  care 
of  Nanon,  the  faithful  servant  and  companion  who  had 
been  with  Madame  de  Maintenon  since  the  early  days  of 
her  widowhood.  She  was  the  daughter  of  an  architect, 
a  very  superior  woman,  and  took  an  active  part  in 
the  organisation  of  St  Cyr.  She  had  great  influence  with 
her  mistress,  so  that  in  after  days  it  was  said  that 
princesses  were  glad  to  embrace  her  and  ministers  bowed 
low  to  her. 

The  other  nieces  ^  made  some  show  of  opposition  as  to 
embracing  Catholicism,  but  not  much  was  heard  of  it. 
At  all  events  their  parents  had  consented  to  Madame  de 
Maintenon  taking  charge  of  them,   perhaps  fearing  to 

*  Cousin's  children  were  called  nieces,  d  la  mode  de  Bretagne. 


lit! 


J 


ii6  MADAME  DE  MAINTENON 

offend  so  influential  a  relation,  and  caring  more  for  woridly 
advancement  than  religious  differences.  Madame  de 
Maintenon  took  great  care  of  them  all,  and  the  young 
ladies  afterwards  became  pupils  at  Rueil  and  St  Cyr. 
Meantime  they  served  as  comrades  and  playfellows  for 
the  royal  children,  and  when  the  carriage  of  Madame  de 
Maintenon  drove  into  the  country  this  pretty  party  formed 

her  train  and  court. 

Madame  de  Montespan  was  jealous  of  the  rising  favour 
of  her  children's  ex-Gouvemante,  and  made  some  spiteful 
remarks  to  the  King,  who  repUed  : 

'*  She  has  rendered  you  invaluable  services  and  if  you 

loved  your  children  you  would  love  her.     For  myself,  as  a 

father,  I  shall  never  forget  what  I  owe  her.    The  place 

I  have  given  to  her  seems  less  than  her  merits  and  my 

obhgations.     She  has  experienced  from  the  cradle  every 

possible  misfortune,  but  her  virtue  and  courage  have 

carried  her  through.     You  have  on  many  occasions  tried 

to  humihate  her  and  treat  her  as  a  slave,  and  the  scenes 

you  have  made  have  deeply  grieved  me.     Her  ancestors 

shed  their  blood  for  mine,  her  grandfather  was  the  ultimate 

friend  of  Henri  IV.  I  admire  and  esteem  her,  and  the  more 

jealousy  seeks  to  abase  her  the  more  I  shall  protect  her." 

In  connecrion  with  Madame  de  Montespan's  jealousy  the 
following  letter  of  Madame  de  Maintenon  to  Mademoiselle 
de  Fontenoy  is  appUcable,  though  of  a  later  date. 

"  I  know  all  that  has  been  said  about  the  Due  du 
Maine,  but  they  wiU  not  succeed  in  making  us  quarrel. 
He  wished  to  give  me  irrefutable  proofs  but  I  refused 
them  If  he  is  to  blame  it  is  so  little  that  I  should  do 
wrong  to  be  offended.  It  must  have  come  from  a  senti- 
ment of  filial  piety  ;  and  how  should  I  condemn  him  ? 
I  who  did  all  I  could  to  cultivate  his  love  for  his  mother  ? 


V 


MADAME  DE  MAINTENON'S  POSITION   117 

I  do  not  doubt  that  Madame  de  Montespan  would  be 
pleased  at  a  public  rupture,  but  I  shall  not  give  her 
that  pleasure." 

In  spite  of  all  mischief  makers,  Madame  de  Maintenon 
retained  the  love  of  her  best-beloved  pupil  to  the  end. 
The  following  letter  was  written  by  him  in  1713  : — 

[Due  de  Maine  to  Madame  de  Maintenon,  ist  January  17 13.] 

"  It  would  have  been  too  commonplace  to  have  gone 
to  your  door  this  morning  to  make  you  the  conventional 
New  Year's  compliments  with  a  sincerity  far  from 
common.  Consider  all  that  I  owe  you,  from  the  moment 
of  my  birth  ;  remember  all  you  know  of  the  character 
you  formed  ;  say  to  yourself  all  that  I  should  like  to 
say,  which  is  much  less  than  I  feel.  The  more  I  reflect 
on  all  the  marks  that  you  give  me  of  the  most  delicate 
and  sincere  friendship,  the  more  I  see  how  many  reasons 
I  have  to  adore  you. 

"  (Signed)    Louis  Auguste  de  Bourbon." 

At  this  time  M.  de  Barillon,^  Intendant  of  Languedoc, 
and  M.  de  Guillerague  were  much  enamoured  of  Madame 
de  Maintenon,  as  also  was  the  Cardinal  d'Estrees — their 
many  attentions  pleased  her  but  did  not  touch  her  heart. 
Writing  at  this  time  to  her  Confessor,  Madame  de  Maintenon 
said  : — 

"  The  Dauphiness  does  not  like  gaiety  and  I  shall  lead 
a  much  more  retired  life  than  formerly.  I  shall  always 
wear  black.  I  think  I  have  spent  too  much  on  dress 
because  I  am  naturally  neat  and  particular  and  not 
inclined  to  economy,  I  send  you  a  list  of  my  alms  and 
the  people  I  assist.     I  pray  to  God  on  rising.     I  attend 

*  Later,  when  Madame  de  Maintenon  had  attained  a  more  exalted 
position  and  he  saw  her  pass  through  the  great  gallery  at  Versailles 
followed  by  all  the  greatest  people  in  France,  he  said  to  a  friend  standing 
near  him  :  "  Was  I  wrong  ?  " 


Ii8 


MADAME  DE  MAINTENON 


two  Masses  and  say  my  offices  every  day,  and  read  a 
portion  of  some  good  book.  I  pray  at  bedtime,  and  if 
I  wake  in  the  night  I  say  a  *  Laudate  Dominum  '  or 
*  Pater  Noster.'  I  often  turn  my  thoughts  to  God 
during  the  day,  and  pray  him  to  take  me  away  from  the 
Court,  if  it  is  injurious  to  my  salvation.  As  to  sins,  they 
are  not  actions — I  am  naturally  well  disposed,  and  have 
too  much  desire  to  be  esteemed  not  to  exercise  self- 
control.  But  vanity  and  pride  are  my  faults.  Prescribe 
the  remedies." 

In  1682  she  writes  from  Maintenon  to  the  Comtesse  de 
St  G6ran : — 

"  The  Royal  Family  are  living  now  in  the  most  edify- 
ing union.  The  King  talks  for  hours  with  the  Queen. 
The  gift  which  she  has  made  me  of  her  portrait  pleases 
me  more  than  anything  I  have  received  since  I  have 
been  at  Court.  I  consider  myself  highly  honoured  by 
it.  I  shall  remain  here  fifteen  days  longer ;  this 
solitude  refreshes  me  after  the  fatigues  of  the  Court.  I 
see  nobody  and  enjoy  my  httle  kingdom  alone.  On  all 
sides  people  tear  me  to  pieces.  You  tell  me  nothing  new. 
Do  not  defend  me,  that  only  embitters  people.  Indiffer- 
ence is  the  best  weapon.  Time  will  bring  many  things 
to  light.  My  Ufe  is  a  tissue  of  sufferings  and  annoyances. 
People  think  my  position  enviable,  but  I  have  no  greater 
pleasure  than  to  get  away  into  solitude.  I  envy  the 
fate  of  my  farmers." 


I 


i! 


CHAPTER   XI 

DEATH   OF  THE   QUEEN 

ON  the 30th  July  1683  died  Queen  Marie Therese. 
She  had  been  taken  ill  at  Strasburg,  whither 
the  Court  had  accompanied  the  King,  who 
was  superintending  the  siege,  and  suc- 
cumbed shortly  after  the  return  to  Paris.  All  the  royal 
family  were  present  at  her  deathbed,  and  it  is  said  that  she 
drew  a  splendid  ring  from  her  finger  and  gave  it  to 
Madame  de  Maintenon,  saying :  "  Adieu,  dearest  Marquise ; 
to  you  I  confide  the  King." 

The  King  went  to  St  Cloud,  his  brother's  house,  and  a 
letter  written  to  him  at  this  time  by  Madame  de  Maintenon 
was  couched  in  the  following  terms : — 

"  The  Queen  is  not  to  be  pitied,  she  died  like  a  saint 
and  your  Majesty  now  has  a  friend  in  heaven  who  will 
demand  of  God  the  pardon  of  your  sins  and  the  grace  you 
require.  Reflect  on  this,  and  be,  sire,  as  good  a 
Christian  as  you  are  great  as  a  Prince." 

After  this  Louvois  called  on  her,  and  said :  "  The  King 
has  sent  me  to  ask  you  to  follow  him  to  St  Cloud."  This 
she  did ;  but  it  was  not  approved  of  by  the  Court, 
though  "  Madame,"  the  King's  sister-in-law,  his  cousin, 
Mademoiselle  de  Monpensier,  and  Madame  de  Ventadour 
were  also  there. 

At  Versailles  people  had  formed  so  high  an  idea  of  the 

King's  sentiments  for  Madame  de  Maintenon  that  with  the 

119 


vl* 


I20 


MADAME  DE  MAINTENON 


\ 


mind's  eye  they  saw  her  on  the  throne  if  she  wished  it ;  and 
all  the  great  people  wrote  her  letters  of  condolence  on  the 
death  of  the  Queen,  as  if  she  had  been  one  of  the  royal 
family. 

The  Queen  being  dead  the  King  was  now  at  liberty  to 
legit imatise  the  position  of  Madame  de  Montespan,  who  had 
borne  him  seven  children.  He  might  have  married  her,  as 
in  the  first  days  of  his  passion  he  had  promised  to  do.  Her 
children  were  legitimatised  and  treated  as  Princes  of  the 
Blood,  but  she  attained  no  such  exalted  position. 

She  had  given  the  best  years  of  her  life  to  the  King. 
"  He  treats  you,"  said  her  sister,  Madame  de  Thianges,  '*  as 
a  conquered  province  upon  whom  he  levies  tax  after  tax." 
Seven  children  bom,  as  she  says,  "  with  infinite  pedn  and 
anguish."  We  think  her  case  is  a  hard  one,  and  Madame 
de  Maintenon  is  accused  of  the  basest  ingratitude  and  of 
deliberately  endeavouring  to  supplant  her. 
^   This  is  unjust  and  incorrect. 

It  was  not  for  Madame  de  Maintenon  that  the  King  de- 
serted Madame  de  Montespan.  Her  empire  over  his  heart 
had  long  ceased.  She  had  made  a  fatal  mistake  in  attempt- 
ing to  rule  Louis.  On  one  occasion  he  said  to  her  :  "  The 
kings  of  Europe  have  not  attempted  to  dictate  to  me  in  my 
kingdom,  and  you  shaD  not  dictate  to  me  in  my  palace." 

On  another  occasion  when,  actuated  by  jealousy,  she  made 
him  a  scene,  he  was  heard  to  say  :  "  I  have  told  you  before, 
madame,  that  I  do  not  choose  to  be  under  any  constraint." 

Long  before  the  death  of  the  Queen,  the  King  had  openly 
deserted  Madame  de  Montespan  for  Mademoiselle  de  Fon- 
tanges,  a  young  provincial  beauty  who  had  been  introduced 
at  Court  by  those  who  thought  that  Madame  de  Monte- 
span's  reign  had  lasted  long  enough.     Of  her  Madame  de 


DEATH  OF  THE  QUEEN  121 

Montespan  says  :  "  God  has  never  before  made  anything 
so  beautiful." 

The  King  quickly  fell  a  victim  to  her  charms. 

To  please  his  new  mistress  he  suddenly  rejuvenated  his 
attire,  returned  to  the  flowing  plumes  of  his  youth,  and 
wore  the  most  elegant  garments  covered  with  jewels. 
Comedies,  concerts,  hunting  and  water  parties  were  ordered 
for  her  amusement.  With  the  exception  of  the  routine 
duties  of  the  sovereignty,  the  King  neglected  everything 
for  the  society  of  his  new  flame,  and  it  was  the  first  time  in 
his  life  that  he  had  ever  been  known  to  subordinate  business 
to  love.  Her  sudden  death  and  its  painful  circumstances 
moved  the  King  in  an  unusual  degree.  It  was  considered 
extraordinary  and  almost  incredible  that  he  was  for  a  whole 
week  absent  from  Council. 

He  shut  himself  up  and  refused  to  be  consoled.  When 
the  innumerable  cares  of  State  at  length  obliged  him  to 
appear  again,  his  eyes  had  shed  so  many  tears  that  they 
were  swollen  and  unrecognisable.  Although  after  a  while 
he  recovered  serenity,  he  never  resumed  his  intimacy  with 
Madame  de  Montespan.  She  had  worn  out  his  affections 
by  her  exacting  and  violent  temper.  After  the  birth  of 
Mademoiselle  de  Blois,  in  1677,  the  King  never  visited 
Madame  de  Montespan  except  for  a  few  minutes  cere- 
moniously. 

She  relates  how,  although  the  King  continued  at  intervals 
to  pay  her  duty  visits,  he,  who  formerly  stayed  with  her  till 
the  last  possible  moment,  was  now  constantly  looking  at 
the  clock,  to  see  if  the  time  he  had  allotted  was  nearly  gone, 
and  could  find  no  subject  of  conversation  to  entertain  her 
with  but  the  praises  of  Madame  de  Maintenon.  She  says  : 
**  He  forgot  himself  so  far  as  to  quote  to  me  the  delights  of 


li 


122 


MADAME  DE  MAINTENON 


4.^i 


V 


J 


her  conversation,  the  wit  and  subtlety  of  her  answers,  her 
fine  deportment.  She  possessed  this,  that,  ever3^hing  ! 
and  he  related  the  events  of  a  journey  which  the  Court  had 
lately  taken,  with  as  much  cordiality  as  if  he  expected  me 
to  sympathise  with  the  amusements  from  which  he  had 
excluded  me." 

We  are  not  surprised  that  Madame  de  Montespan  ex- 
claims, in  continuation  :  "  How  is  it  that  a  clever  man  can 
forget  the  proprieties  to  such  a  degree,  and  expose  himself 
to  the  secret  judgment  which  must  be  formed  of  him  though 
unuttered." 

She  thought  his  indifference  an  outrage,  and  lost  herself 
in  believing  herself  deserted.  She  received  the  King  with 
indifference  and  hauteur,  irritated  him  with  biting  epi- 
grams ;  and  on  one  occasion,  losing  all  self-control,  spoke 
to  him  as  if  he  were  a  man  without  mind  or  personal  attrac- 
tions, whom  she  had  tolerated  out  of  love  of  grandeur. 

These  words  opened  all  windows,  and  love  took  flight, 
never  to  return.  Repentant  and  aghast  at  her  own 
violence,  she  threw  herself  at  his  feet,  imploring  forgiveness. 
He  replied  coldly :  "  Rise,  madame  !  "  bowed  and  took 
leave,  and  never  more  saw  her  alone. 

Although  poor  Madame  de  Montespan  knew,  as  she 
herself  says,  that  "  to  try  and  resuscitate  an  attachment 
of  this  sort  when  once  the  spell  is  broken  is  as  if  one  should 
open  a  grave  and  try  to  give  life  to  the  dead,"  yet  she  could 
not  make  up  her  mind  to  retire  from  Court,  and  although 
she  no  longer  resided  at  Versailles  she  appeared  at  Court 
from  time  to  time. 

It  was  after  the  death  of  Madame  de  Fontanges  that 
Madame  de  Maintenon's  influence  over  the  King 
strengthened  and  increased.     The  King  formed  the  habit 


DEATH  OF  THE  QUEEN  123 

of  consulting  her  on  all  occasions,  about  affairs  of  State 
as  well  as  the  private  affairs  of  the  royal  family,  and 
frequently  quoted  her  opinions,  praised  her  appearance, 
the  grace  of  her  carriage  and  dignity  of  her  manners. 

She  believed  that  it  was  her  mission  in  life  to  reform 
the  King  and  to  convert  him  from  evil  ways,  and  there  is 
no  doubt  she  succeeded.  She  lectured  him,  "  in  her 
dulcet  fluted  voice,"  ^  on  the  frailties  of  his  past  Ufe  ;  and 
his  keen  remorse  for  the  death  of  Fontanges  in  the  prime 
of  her  youth,  together  with  Bourdaloue's  open  remon- 
strances as  to  the  scandal  and  danger  of  living  in  open 
sin,  helped  to  complete  the  good  work  begun  by  Madame 
de  Maintenon. 

The  King  caused  her  to  be  treated  with  the  greatest 
respect.  He  appointed  the  Marquis  de  Chamarande  to  be 
her  gentleman-in- waiting,  to  attend  her  on  all  public 
occasions. 

Madame  de  Sevigne  wrote  : — 

"  There  never  has  been  anything  like  the  position  of 
Madame  de  Maintenon,  and  never  will  be  again.  M.  de 
Chamarande  escorts  her  to  the  King's  apartments  every 
evening  and  brings  her  back  at  10  o'clock  in  the  eyes  of 
the  world." 

One  thing  was  certain,  that  Madame  de  Maintenon's  "^ 
society  had  become  indispensable  to  the  King.  He  was 
never  satisfied  anywhere  unless  she  was  present.  She 
suffered  from  fever  in  March  1685,  and  this  only  served  to 
make  known  the  King's  feelings,  for  he  visited  her  three 
times  a  day. 

Those  who  knew  her  intimately  respected  her  thoroughly, 
and  all  the  high-minded  characters  of  the  Court  were  her 

^  Mademoiselle  de  Scud6ry's  description. 


u- 


,1 


t 


n 


124  MADAME  DE  MAINTENON 

friends,  but  there  were  many  others  who,  through  jealousy 
and  being  incapable  of  believing  in  pure  friendship  between 
man  and  woman,  did  not  hesitate  to  attack  her  character 
and  to  speak  of  her  only  as  another  mistress.^  This 
caused  her  the  acutest  pain,  and  after  the  death  of  the 
Queen  she  resolved  to  quit  the  Court.  She  felt  she  must 
do  this,  or  lose  her  character,  and  hear  Europe  declare  that 
she  had  by  her  hypocrisy  destroyed  the  empire  of 
Montespan  only  to  install  herself  in  her  place. 

The  Duchesse  de  Richeheu  died,  and  the  King  wished 
Madame  de  Maintenon  to  replace  her  as  lady-of-honour  to 
the  Dauphiness,  and  he  wished  to  create  her  a  Duchess. 
She  refused  both  honours  ;  she  had  had  enough  experience 
of  the  unpleasantness  incurred  through  the  Dauphiness's 
dislike  for  her,  and  empty  titles  and  honours  were  no 
temptations  to  her. 

She  said  to  the  King  :  "  My  title  of  honour  in  the  eyes 
of  posterity  will  be  that  I  have  possessed  your  Majesty's 
esteem  ;   and  that  is  enough  for  me." 

She  asked  permission  to  retire  to  Maintenon. 

"I  will  not  prevent  you,  madame,"  said  the  King, 
"  but  think  how  your  absence  even  for  a  day  would  vex 


>» 


me. 

She  delayed  taking  the  decisive  step.  She  spent  a  great 
deal  of  time  on  works  of  charity— visiting  the  poor  and 
sick  around  Versailles  and  in  Paris  and  Fontainebleau.  She 
had  always  had  a  compassionate  heart.    When  married 

1  In  reference  to  the  lampoons  current  at  the  expense  of  Madame  de 
Maintenon's  honour,  Barillon,  Intendant  of  Languedoc,  remarked  : 
"  Why  trouble  about  these  ignorant  people's  opinions  ?  I  have  known 
her  since  the  days  when  she  was  Madame  Scarron,  when  her  very  glance 
inspired  respect.  One  was  constantly  amazed  that  such  beauty,  charm 
and  poverty  should  remain  combined  with  virtue." 


DEATH  OF  THE  QUEEN  125 

to  Scarron  she  gave  to  the  poor  out  of  her  dress  allowance. 
When  the  pension  she  received  from  the  Queen  Dowager 
was  increased  by  500  Uvres,  she  devoted  this  amount 
to  almsgiving.  Now  her  charities  were  on  a  larger  scale. 
She  had  a  plain  brown  carriage  that  could  not  excite 
remark,  and  in  this  she  paid  her  visits  of  charity  ;  some- 
times she  went  on  foot,  escorted  by  her  old  maid,  Nanon. 
The  courtiers  knew  that  the  best  way  of  obtaining  her 
favour  was  to  assist  in  her  beneficient  activities.  But  her 
good  deeds  did  not  silence  the  voice  of  slander— anonymous 
letters  insulted  her— satires  and  ribald  verses  at  her 
expense  were  widely  circulated.     She  became  daily  sadder 

and  paler. 

The  King  inquired  the  reason,  and  promised  to 
humiliate  those  who  had  dared  to  despise  and  persecute 
the  lady  he  honoured  with  his  esteem. 

To  this  period  belongs  the  only  love  letter  written  by 
Louis  XIV.  to  Madame  de  Maintenon  which  has  remained. 
She  destroyed  all  private  papers  before  her  death,  but 
this  one  was  overlooked,  and  was  found  at  St  Cyr. 

"  I  take  advantage  of  Montchevrueil's  departure  to 
assure  you  of  a  truth  that  pleases  me  too  much  for  me 
to  tire  of  repeating  it.  It  is  that  I  cherish  you  always 
and  consider  you  to  a  point  that  I  cannot  express  and  in 
short  whatever  friendship  you  have  for  me  I  have  more 
for  vou.  being  with  all  my  heart  entirely  yours. 
^  "(Signed)  Louis." 


it 


CHAPTER   XII 

MARRIAGE  TO  THE   KING 

THE  King  consulted  his  Confessor,  P^re  de  la 
Chaise.  "  You  know  my  friendship  for 
Madame  de  Maintenon,  she  is  goodness, 
sweetness,  virtue  itself.  Her  disinterested- 
ness, her  indefatigable  zeal  for  my  soul's  welfare  and  for 
my  glory  are  also  known  to  you.  Her  wise  counsels, 
given  often  at  the  risk  of  displeasing  me  and  ruining 
her  position  at  Court,  have  helped  me  to  amend  my 
life.  I  find  an  inexpressible  charm  in  her  society;  it 
has  become  a  habit  with  me  and  I  cannot  do  without  it. 
She  is  adored  by  my  children,  and  if  I  decide  to  make  her 
my  wife  her  own  reluctance  is  the   greatest    obstacle 

I  fear." 

The  Confessor  knew  Madame  de  Maintenon's  good 
qualities  ;  he  also  knew  that  the  King  was  not  one  to  Uve 
without  women's  society,  and  only  wished  him  to  indulge 
his  taste  honourably  and  without  sin. 

So  he  approved  of  the  proposed  marriage  and  undertook 
to  find  out  whether  Madame  de  Maintenon  would  be 
humihated  by  an  offer  of  his  hand,  and  the  honourable 
position  of  wife,  without  the  title  of  Queen. 

Pere  de  la  Chaise  made  her,  in  the  King's  name,  an  offer 
of  marriage,  and  added  :  "  Your  good  sense,  madame,  will 
understand  that  reasons  of  State  would  oppose  such 
pubhcity  as  would  necessitate  a  coronation,  but  all  the 


3T  JJVIGIXIV 

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MARRIAGE  TO  THE  KING 


127 


formalities  demanded  by  the  Church  will  be  observed ;  a 
regular  contract  will  assure  your  rights  as  widow,  it  will  be 
signed  by  you  and  the  King  and  the  Secretary  of  State. 
Your  conscience  need  not  be  alarmed,  it  is  as  a  Christian 
King  that  his  Majesty  wishes  to  unite  himself  to  you  at  the 
foot  of  the  altar." 

Madame  de  Maintenon  was  overwhelmed. 

**  Oh,  God  !  "  she  exclaimed,  "  for  what  a  fate  you  have 
reserved  me,  what  a  spectacle  shall  I  provide  for  the  world  ! 
What  will  France  say  !  and  the  royal  family  !  even  my 
own  friends  !  Of  what  intrigues  will  they  not  accuse 
me!" 

Madame  de  Maintenon  knew  the  inconstant,  voluptuous 
nature  of  the  King ;  she  had  seen  several  notorious  liaisons 
collapse  in  succession  ;  whether  she  really  wished  to  marry 
the  King  or  not  is  doubtful.^ 

She  had  never  been  in  love  with  him,  as  so  many  women      1 
had  ;  her  feelings  were  only  those  of  respect  and  gratitude. 
"  The  advantages  of  freedom  are  certain  and  I  know  them  ; 
the  troubles  of  married  life  are  a  certainty,  and  I  did  not 
desire  them,"  she  wrote. 

She  had  no  illusions  on  the  subject  of  her  marriage. 
"  He  wishes  to  marry  me,"  she  said,  "  but  he  will  still  be 
the  King,  and  what  can  a  subject  do  against  a  King  ?  He 
loves  me  now,  and  has  done  so  for  eleven  years  past,  but 
he  also  loved  La  Valli^re,  Mademoiselle  de  Fontanges  and 
Madame  de  Montespan  with  passion.  I  have  arrived  at 
an  age  when  all  personal  charms  quickly  fly,  though  by  a 
prodigy  I   have  retained  my  looks  up  till  now,  at  any 

*  She  wrote  about  this  time  :  "I  think  I  love  the  King  in  the  same 
manner  as  I  love  my  brother  ;  I  wish  to  see  them  both  perfect  that  they 
may  be  blessed  by  God.  The  King  has  done  me  the  honour  to  write  me 
two  very  affectionate  letters ;  I  have  replied  as  a  Christian  should." 


128 


MADAME  DE  MAINTENON 


MARRIAGE  TO  THE  KING 


129 


m 


moment  they  may  begin  to  fade,  and  I  shall  quickly 
become  an  object  from  which  all  looks  involuntarily 
turn." 

Madame  de  Maintenon  was  generally  admired  for  her 
equable  disposition  and  for  the  serenity  of  her  demeanour, 
but  about  this  time  her  friends  noticed  that  she  appeared 
disturbed  in  mind  and  troubled. 

Madame  de  Caylus  says,  in  her  Souvenirs  : — 

"  During  the  journey  to  Fontainebleau  which  followed 
the  Queen's  death,  I  noticed  so  much  agitation  of  mind 
in  Madame  de  Maintenon  that  when  thinking  of  it  I  have 
since  decided  that  she  was  in  great  uncertainty  as  to  the 
future,  and  swayed  by  hopes  and  fears.  In  order  to 
conceal  this  agitation  and  offer  a  reason  for  the  tears, 
that  we  of  the  household  noticed  she  often  shed,  she 
complained  of  being  unwell  and  hysterical,  and  she  spent 
a  great  deal  of  time  out  of  doors,  in  the  forest  of  Fontaine- 
bleau with  Madame  de  Montchevrueil  for  a  companion. 
After  the  return  from  Fontainebleau  she  appeared  to 
have  recovered  her  usual  serene  frame  of  mind." 

About  this  time  Madame  de  Maintenon  wrote  to  her 
friend,  Madame  de  Brinon  : — 

"  I  performed  my  devotions  after  a  disturbed  night, 
during  which  I  shed  many  tears.  I  have  never  been 
more  aware  that  I  have  deceived  myself.  I  am  far  from 
the  detachment  to  which  I  aspire.  My  chains  have 
never  been  so  strong . " 

She  was  divided  in  her  mind  whether  to  retire  altogether 
from  Court,  or  to  accept  the  position  now  offered  to  her. 
Perhaps  her  heart  was  more  incHned  to  the  King  than  she 
allowed  herself  to  admit. 

During  a  long  conversation  with  the  Confessor,  he 
said  :  "  Do  not  think  of  your  own  feelings,  madame,  think 


of  your  duty  to  the  King  and  his  happiness  ;  and  of  the 
great  opportunity  to  which  God  calls  you.'* 

At  last  Madame  de  Maintenon  said  :  "  He  to  whom  I 
owe  everything  has  claims  that  I  cannot  ignore,  I  shall 
obey  him." 

Madame  de  Maintenon  thought  it  her  duty  in  Hfe  to 
reform  Louis  le  Grand,  and  she  accepted  it.^  He  dispelled 
all  her  scruples,  fixed  the  day,  and  arranged  the  marriage 
ceremonies. 

The  King  had  a  great  admiration  for  her  person  as  well 
as  her  talent ;  he  desired  her  as  a  wife,  not  only  as  a  mentor  ; 
but  she  had  always  inspired  him  with  very  real  respect  for 
her,  and  this  made  him  aware  that  only  by  marriage,  and  on 
no  other  terms,  could  she  become  his  own. 

Louis  loved  Frangoise  d'Aubigne,  but  he  idolised  the 
idea  of  royalty,  did  not  believe  in  equality  among  men,  and 
considered  kings  a  race  of  demi-gods.  Nothing  could  be  a 
greater  proof  of  the  sincerity  of  his  affection  and  the  un- 
bounded influence  she  had  over  him,  than  his  submitting  to 
this  marriage. 

In  these  days  the  difference  between  royalty  and  ordinary 
mortals  is  not  felt  to  be  so  great  as  it  was  then,  and  it  is 
now  hardly  possible  to  realise  the  prestige  that  attached 
to  the  position  of  kings  in  the  age  of  Louis  XIV. 

Since  then  many  a  sovereign  has  made  a  morganatic 
marriage  ;  but  what  is  very  remarkable  in  this  connection 
is  that  Madame  de  Maintenon's  influence  continued 
unimpaired,  increased  instead  of  diminished,  for  the 
next  thirty  years  ~  that  is,  so  long  as  the  King's  life 
lasted. 

On  12th  January  1684  Madame  de  Maintenon  was 
married  to  Louis  XIV.  in  the  Royal  Chapel  at  Versailles,  in 


^ 


I30 


MADAME  DE  MAINTENON 


the  presence  of  Pere  de  la  Chaise,  who  performed  the  cere- 
mony ;  Harley,  Archbishop  of  Paris,  who  gave  the  bene- 
diction ;  Louvois,^  the  Minister,  the  Due  de  Noailles,  the 
Marquis  de  Montchevrueil,  witnesses  ;  and  M.  Bontems,  the 
King's  first  valet-de-chambre  and  Keeper  of  Privy  Purse, 
who  prepared  the  altar.  Madame  de  Maintenon's  old 
maid-servant,  Nanon,  who  had  followed  her  from  her 
earhest  years  through  all  the  vicissitudes  of  her  life,  was 

also  present. 

This  service  was  performed  at  midnight,  and  immediately 
afterwards  the  whole  party  repaired  to  Maintenon,  where 
the  Bishop  of  Chartres  (Diocesan)  awaited  them  ;  there 
the  great  ceremony,  the  Mass,  and  all  that  is  customary  in 
such  cases,  was  celebrated,  and  the  Cure  of  Maintenon 
served  at  the  altar. 

The  chapel  in  which  this  ceremony  took  place  was  still 
in  existence  in  1814  at  Maintenon  Castle,  and  the  Due  de 
Noailles,  to  whose  ancestress,  her  niece,  Madame  de  Main- 
tenon bequeathed  the  estate,  has  embellished  and  repaired 
the  oratory  where  Louis  XIV.  was  united  to  Madame  de 
Maintenon,  of  whose  connection  with  their  family  the  house 
of  Noailles  is  ever  proud. 

The  tradition  of  the  marriage  remains  one  of  the  most 
cherished  and  undisputed  memories  of  the  neighbourhood. 
Silence  was  not  prescribed.  Let  alone  the  official  wit- 
nesses, the  servants  and  coachmen  of  the  carriages  con- 
veying the  King,  the  bride,  the  Archbishop  and  Bishop, 
and  the  Secretary  of  State,  arriving  at  daybreak,  would 
talked  of  this  event  for  days. 

Years  before,  when  writing  to  Madame  de  Villar9eaux  a 

*  LoTivois  had  previously  gone  on  his  knees  and  begged  the  King  not  to 
marry  her. 


MARRIAGE  TO  THE  KING  131 

description  of  the  King's  entry  to  Paris  with  his  bride, 
Madame  de  Maintenon  had  said  :  "  The  Queen  ought  to 
be  very  well  satisfied  with  her  husband/'  Did  she  now 
remember  this  ? 

After  the  return  to  VersaiUes  Madame  de  Maintenon  took 
possession  of  an  extremely  sumptuous  apartment  that  had 
been  carefuUy  prepared  for  her,  near  the  King's  rooms,  and 
on  the  next  journey  to  Fontainebleau  she  sat  beside  the 
King  in  the  carriage,  with  his  two  daughters,  the  Princesse 
de  Conti  and  the  Duchesse  de  Bourbon,  opposite  ;  "  Mon- 
sieur "  was  also  in  the  carriage. 

In  her  establishment  the  title  of  *'  majesty  "  was  given 
to  her  ;  the  King,  when  he  had  to  speak  of  her,  used  only 
the  word  "  madame."  Very  Httle  difference  was  made  in 
her  outward  mode  of  life,  excepting  that  she  always  used  the 
King's  carriage,  not  her  own,  sitting  in  the  Queen's  place, 
and  in  the  Royal  Chapel  she  used  the  Queen's  praying 
desk  and  seat  ;  and  after  her  marriage  she  never  rose  from 
her  seat  to  receive  visitors,  not  even  the  Queen  of  England  ; 
and  Louis,  who  had  never  previously  done  so,  always  re- 
mained behind  in  her  apartments  when  the  circle  took 
leave  in  the  evening. 

In  all  but  name  she  was  henceforth  Queen  of  France. 
The  King's  entire  confidence  in  her  and  rare  dependence  on 
her  increased  year  by  year.  Ministers,  generals,  bishops, 
aU  and  sundry  rendered  her  the  most  public  and  universal 
deference.  For  thirty  years  her  sway  was  absolute.  The 
Dauphin,  remembering  her  consideration  for  his  mother, 
welcomed  her  warmly  as  his  father's  wife.  The  Dauphiness 
shed  tears  of  spite  and  said  she  would  never  acknowledge 
her.  On  hearing  which  the  King  said  laconically  :  "  She 
will  come  to  it." 


132  MADAME  DE  MAINTENON 

The  King's  attentions  to  Madame  de  Maintenon  did  not 
escape  the  notice  of  the  caricaturists,  and  a  man  was  sent  to 
prison  for  circulating  a  print  in  which  Madame  de  Main- 
tenon  was  represented  weeping  over  the  sick-bed  of  M. 
Scarron.  The  dying  man  was  holding  an  open  will  in  his 
hand,  in  which  could  be  read  the  words :  "  I  leave  you  my 
permission  to  marry  again,  a  rich  and  serious  man— more  so 

than  I  am." 

The  young  people  who  were  at  an  age  when  it  is  not 
believable  that  a  woman  can  be  loved  if  she  is  more  than 
twenty-five,  and  who  think  those  older  than  themselves 
must  be  at  least  a  hundred  years  old,  and  are  quite 
astonished  that  there  can  be  any  question  of  their  being 
admired,  ridiculed  the  King's  infatuation  for  an  "  elderiy 

governess." 

The  seventeenth  century  seems  to  have  been  an  epoch 
when  ladies  preserved  their  charms  to  an  advanced  age. 
We  hear  of  Madame  de  S^vigne,  when  over  sixty,  receiving 
an  offer  of  marriage  from  a  duke  ;  the  Princesse  des  Ursins, 
till  close  on  seventy,  was  never  without  an  admirer  ;  and 
it  is  well  known  that  Ninon  de  TEnclos  inspired  ardent 
passion  when  she  was  quite  old. 

At  this  time  Madame  de  Maintenon  was  fifty-two  years 
of  age  and  the  King  forty-eight.  She  was  still  a  beautiful 
woman,  and  had  always  had  the  grand  air.  She  looked 
younger  than  the  King.  Her  complexion  was  still  of 
transparent  whiteness  ;  her  figure  majestic  yet  graceful, 
her  hands  and  arms  a  model  for  sculpture.  She  always 
wore  two  bracelets,  one  containing  a  medallion  of  the  King, 
and  the  other  of  the  Due  du  Maine.  She  wore  few  dia- 
monds, her  ornaments  being  generally  pearls  and  emeralds, 
her  dress  rich  yet  simple. 


MARRIAGE  TO  THE  KING  133 

A  little  later  Madame  de  Coulanges  wrote  to  Madame  de 
Sevigne  : — 

"  I  have  sent  the  most  beautiful  thing  imaginable,  a 
portrait  of  Madame  de  Maintenon.  Mignard  has  not 
given  her  too  great  an  appearance  of  youth.  He  gives 
us  a  countenance  inexpressibly  attractive— speaking 
eyes,  perfect  grace— no  flummery  of  accessories.  He  has 
also  made  a  fine  portrait  of  the  King.  I  send  some 
verses  Mademoiselle  Bernard  has  composed  about  these 
portraits. 

"  '  Oui  !  Votre  art.  je  I'avoue  est  au-dessus  du  mien 
J'ai  loue  mille  fois  notre  invincible  maitre, 
Mais  vous,  en  deux  portraits,  vous  le  fait  connaltre. 
On  vois  aisement  dans  le  sien. 
Sa  valeur,  son  coeur  magnanime 
Dans  I'autre  on  voit  son  gout  a  placer  son  estime. 
Ah  Mignard  !  Que  vous  louez  bien.'  " 


\ 


m 


CHAPTER   XIII 

PUBLIC   OPINION   ON   THE   MARRIAGE 

AT  the  time  of  the  marriage  Louis  XIV.  was  at  the 
zenith  of  his  power.  He  had  conquered  Stras- 
burg  and  Luxembourg,  bombarded  Genoa 
and  Algiers,  and  was  on  the  point  of  annexing 
the  Low  Countries.  He  was  the  terror  of  Europe  and  the 
admiration  of  his  subjects.  ( At  this  culminating  point  in 
his  career,  under  the  influence  of  Madame  de  Maintenon,  he 
changed  his  whole  manner  of  existence.  His  private  Ufe 
was  henceforth  irreproachable,  and  in  some  measure  austere. 
He  observed  all  fasts  and  festivals  of  the  Church,  attended 
Mass  and  received  the  Sacrament  with  genuine  fervour  and 
devotion.  "  Ah,  Father  !  "  he  said  to  the  celebrated 
preacher,  Massillon,  "  when  I  have  heard  other  great 
preachers,  I  have  felt  satisfied  with  them  and  nothing  more ; 
when  I  listen  to  you,  though  I  am  satisfied  with  you  I 
become  very  dissatisfied  with  myself." 

No  wonder  that  all  Europe  was  talking  of  the  enchantress 
who  had  worked  this  change. 

The  Pope  wrote  to  congratulate  Madame  de  Maintenon 
on  her  marriage  and  to  give  her  his  blessing. 

This  being  known,  the  bishops  followed  his  example. 
The  Bishop  of  Chartres  wrote  : — 

"  Madame,  I  doubt  not  that  God  will  sanctify  and 
sustain  you  in  the  difficulties  which  your  zeal  for  the 
King  and  for  reUgion  will  bring  on  you  through  the  spite 

«34 


PUBLIC  OPINION  ON  THE  MARRIAGE    135 

of  the  wicked.  You  will  be  the  King's  refuge,  and  con- 
solation, his  councillor  and  guardian  angel,  whom  God 
has  plainly  sent  to  him  for  his  salvation.  Love  and  obey 
him  as  Sarah  loved  Abraham,  respect  and  look  upon  him 
as  your  Lord  and  Master  according  to  the  ordinance  of 
God.  Your  position  is  enigmatical,  but  God  has  made  it 
so.  You  did  not  desire  or  choose  it,  or  even  imagine  it. 
It  is  the  work  of  God.  May  the  saints  pray  for  you, — 
who  have  been  placed  where  you  are  for  the  sanctification 
of  the  King,  and  to  be  a  model  of  virtue  to  the  Court." 

The  great  Arnauld  of  Port  Royal  wrote  of  the  marriage 
in  the  following  terms  to  Madame  de  Duvancel : — 

"  The  directors  of  the  King's  conscience  cannot  be 
accused  of  a  crime.  There  is  no  scandal,  since  all  who 
see  that  there  is  more  than  friendship  between  them, 
know  at  the  same  time  that  they  are  married.  If  the 
Confessor  knew  that  the  King  could  not  do  without  a 
female  companion,  was  it  not  his  duty  to  advise  him  to 
have  a  lawful  one — rather  than  to  offend  God  by  illegi- 
timate amours  ?  I  cannot  see  what  fault  there  is  to  be 
found  with  this  marriage  contracted  according  to  the 
laws  of  the  Church.  It  is  a  mistake  only  in  the  eyes  of 
those  who  regard  it  as  a  weakness  to  have  married  one 
so  far  beneach  him  in  rank,  instead  of  considering  that  he 
has  done  an  action  pleasing  to  God,  even  if  he  regards  the 
union  only  as  a  remedy  for  the  weakness  of  his  nature, 
and  a  preventive  against  falling  into  illicit  intimacies. 
This  marriage  unites  him  to  one  for  whose  mind  and 
virtues  he  has  a  solid  esteem,  whose  society  will  console 
him  in  all  the  cares  of  State.  Would  to  God  the  directors 
of  his  conscience  had  never  given  him  worse  advice !  " 

Extract  of  Letter  to  the  King  on  the  Peace  and  his  wife, 
from  the  Bishop  of  Chartres. 

This  letter  was  published  in  the  Mercury  of  Paris  by 
permission  of  Louis  XIV.     Original  is  at  St  Cyr. 

"  It  is  plain,  Sire,  that  God  wishes  to  save  you.     Alas 
for  Princes  who  in  their  youth  give  the  rein  to  their 


13^ 


MADAME  DE  MAINTENON 


passions.  It  is  the  salvation  of  Kings  to  live  to  a  riper 
age,  when  dehvered  from  the  idolatry  of  voluptuousness, 
God  inspires  them  with  humility  and  fear  of  his  judge- 
ments. This  is  what  God  has  done  for  you.  Sire.  You 
have  an  excellent  companion  full  of  the  Spirit  of  God  and 
of  discernment,  whose  tenderness  and  fideUty  to  you  are 
unequalled.  In  the  midst  of  the  crowds  of  false  and  in- 
terested people  who  surround  Kings,  God  has  given  you 
a  stay,  a  wife  who  resembles  the  pattern  wife  of  Scripture 
who  thinks  only  of  the  glory  and  the  salvation  of  her 
husband,  and  of  all  sorts  of  good  works. 

**  It  seems  to  me.  Sir,  that  God  is  with  her  in  all  she 
does.  If  I  am  too  bold  or  too  tedious  I  beg  your  Majesty 
to  pardon  me." 

To  Madame  de  Maintenon  herself  the  Bishop  wrote  on 
another  occasion  : — 

"  The  King  treats  you  not  only  as  wife  and  friend  but 
as  confidante.  God  has  placed  his  salvation  and  the 
welfare  of  the  Church  in  your  hands.  For  these  great 
works  He  will  give  you  special  powers." 

The  Abbe  Gobelin,  who  had  been  Madame  de  Maintenon's 
Confessor  for  many  years,  was  embarrassed  to  know  how  he 
ought  to  address  her  after  her  elevation,  and  in  his  con- 
fusion entangled  himself  in  his  soutane  and  nearly  fell,  in 
his  effort  to  convey  profound  reverence  in  his  first  salutation. 
She  was  much  amused,  and  soon  set  him  at  ease. 

"  I  did  not  desire  or  solicit  the  arduous  rank  I  occupy," 
she  said,  "  and  I  need  courage  and  resignation  to  support 
its  burdens.  Many  people  think  that  I  attained  the  posi- 
tion I  occupy  by  following  out  a  premeditated  design  ! 
This  is  not  the  case,  I  did  not  place  myself  where  I  am. 
It  is  God's  doing.     I  neither  could  or  would  have  done  it." 

The  King's  sister-in-law,  widow  of  his  brother,  Philippe 
d'Orl^ans,  was  always  proof  against  Madame  de  Main- 


PUBLIC  OPINION  ON  THE  MARRIAGE    137 

tenon's  charms,  and  openly  detested  her,  always  speaking 
of  her  as  "  old  Maintenon  "  or  "  the  old  Sorceress."  When 
the  murmurs  of  some  of  the  Princes  reached  the  King's  ears, 
he  told  them  it  was  their  duty  to  think  all  that  he  did 
right. 

By  degrees  they  learned  to  value  her. 

When  the  King  wished  to  remonstrate  with  his  daughters 
or  the  princes  he  used  to  commission  Madame  de  Maintenon 
to  convey  his  wishes.  She  used  to  speak  out  boldly  ;  at 
first  they  were  displeased,  but  when  they  gradually  found 
out  that  instead  of  making  mischief  her  one  wish  was  to 
keep  them  on  good  terms  with  the  King  they  began  to 
value  her,  consulted  her  on  all  points,  chose  her  for  the 
arbiters  of  their  quarrels. 

One  day  she  said  :  **  I  have  come  from  an  interview  with  * 
four  Princes,  it  was  worse  than  being  dragged  apart  by 
four  horses." 

The  Princes  were  the  Dauphin  (the  King's  son  by  the 
Queen),  the  Dauphin's  sons,  the  Dukes  of  Burgundy  and 
Berri,  and  also  the  Prince  de  Conti  and  the  Due  de  Bourbon 
— whose  wives  were  the  King's  daughters  by  Mesdames 
la  Vcdliere  and  de  Montespan. 

Madame  de  Maintenon  was  less  successful  with  these 
Princesses,  for  though  they  took  advantage  of  her  good 
offices,  they  resented  her  influence.  The  confidence  and 
consideration  that  she  generally  enjoyed  was  all  the  more 
flattering  that  it  was  personal  and  not  due  to  their  assuming 
the  position  of  Queen. 

She  did  not  expect  gratitude  ;  speaking  of  some  request 
made  to  her,  she  said  of  the  petitioners  :   "I  shall  serve  • 
them  though  certain  of  being  rewarded  by  their  ingrati- 
tude." 


138 


MADAME  DE  MAINTENON 


?" 


Madame  de  Montespan  must  have  been  a  generous- 
minded  woman,  for  in  her  Memoirs,  written  after  her  retire- 
ment, she  is  unsparing  in  her  admiration  of  her  rival's 
beauty  and  talent.  She  writes  :  "  I  always  liked  her,  and 
see  no  reason  to  alter  my  opinion  now."  She  relates  a 
very  extraordinary  scene,  when  she  went  after  the  marriage 
to  pay  her  respects  to  Madame  de  Maintenon.  The  King 
was  present— what  the  feelings  of  all  three  must  have  been 
it  is  not  difficult  to  conjecture.  One  would  have  thought 
it  was  a  meeting  to  be  avoided  at  all  costs.  But  so 
extraordinary  was  the  prestige  of  kings  two  centuries 
ago,  that  even  an  outraged  and  deserted  woman 
seems  scarcely  to  feel  her  own  right  to  resentment. 
She  writes  : — 

"  Since  the  King's  affection  for  me  no  longer  existed 
and  he  had  resumed  with  me  that  distance  which  his  rank 
authorises,  I  on  my  side,  after  the  first  transports  of 
anguish  and  indignation  had  subsided,  submitted  to  see 
in  him  only  my  King. 

"  After  the  marriage  all  my  relatives,  counts,  mar- 
quises, barons,  prelates,  duchesses,  besides  the  Ministers, 
came  to  attack  me  in  my  retreat  at  Petit  Bourg  and  to 
represent  to  me  that  since  Madame  de  Maintenon  was 
the  chosen  wife  of  the  monarch,  I  owed  her  my  re- 
spectful compliments,  and  that  my  resistance  would 
compromise  my  family  and  incur  the  King's  displeasure. 
Not  desiring  to  harm  my  family,  and  wishing  to  re-instate 
myself  somewhat  in  the  King's  opinion,  I  prepared  for  this 
distressing  journey.  I  appeared  in  a  long  robe  of  gold 
and  silver  before  the  Monarch  and  his  new  spouse.  The 
King  who  was  seated  at  table  rose  for  a  moment  and  en- 
couraged me  by  his  greeting.  I  made  the  three  pauses 
and  the  three  reverences  as  I  gradually  approached 
.  Madame  de  Maintenon,  who  occupied  a  large  and  rich 
arm-chair  of  brocade.  She  did  not  rise,  her  complexion 
generally  pale,  with  a  very  sUght  tone  of  pink,  now 


PUBLIC  OPINION  ON  THE  MARRIAGE    139 

took  all  the  colours  of  the  rose.  She  made  me  a  sign 
to  seat  myself  on  a  tabouret,  and  it  seemed  to  me  that 
her  looks  apologised  to  me.  She  spoke  of  my  country 
seat  and  of  my  children,  and  said  smiling  kindly  :  '  I 
am  going  to  confide  in  you.  M.  de  Conde  has  already 
asked  for  the  hand  of  Mademoiselle  de  Nantes  for  his 
grandson  and  his  Highness  promises  us  his  grand- 
daughter for  our  Due  du  Maine.  Two  or  three  years 
more  and  we  shall  see  all  this.' 

"  After  half-an-hour,  I  rose  from  my  uncomfortable 
tabouret  and  made  my  farewell  reverences. 

*'  Madame  de  Maintenon  rose  five  or  six  inches  in  her 
chair  and  said  :  *  Do  not  let  us  cease  to  love  one  another, 
I  implore  you.'  " 

She  was  asking  a  great  deal  of  the  woman  whose 
children  and  their  father  she  had  appropriated. 

But  how  extraordinary  must  have  been  the  influence  she 
exercised  over  all  with  whom  she  came  in  contact !  for 
even  Madame  de  Montespan  appears  to  have  felt  little 
bitterness  towards  her. 

Yet  intercourse  between  the  two  ladies  could  never  have 
been  really  free  from  embarrassment,  and  in  reference  to 
this  Madame  de  Montespan  wrote,  in  1698,  the  following 
remarkable  letter,  the  moderation  of  which  does  her  much 
credit.     In  it  she  says  : — 

"  Madame  de  Maintenon  shows  plainly  that  she  does 
not  wish  for  intercourse  with  me,  though  she  has  no  ill 
feeling  towards  me.  I  quite  understand  this,  it  is 
natural ;  it  is  all  that  was  necessary  to  prevent  my 
troubling  myself  about  a  person  who  has  played  too 
great  a  part  in  my  life  not  to  have  left  a  mark  on  my 
heart  and  memory." 

Madame  de  Maintenon's  letters  show  that  the  fact  of 
having  supplanted  Madame  de  Montespan  was  not  a 


I40 


MADAME  DE  MAINTENON 


pleasant  recollection,  though,  as  she  truly  said,  "  Even  if 
I  had  not  been  in  existence,  the  King  would  never  have 
married  her." 

In  a  letter  to  Madame  Montespan's  sister,  the  Abbess 
of  Fontevrault,  Madame  de  Maintenon  said  :  '*  I  can 
never  fail  to  be  interested  in  all  that  concerns  Madame  de 
Montespan,  great  or  small." 

And  again,  when  Mademoiselle  de  Noailles  married 
Madame  de  Montespan's  grandson,  the  Due  d'Antin,  and 
the  appointment  of  Dame  du  Palais,  hitherto  filled  by  the 
Duchesse  de  Noailles,  was  given  to  her,  Madame  de 
Maintenon  wrote,  in  reference  to  this  :  "  What  would  I 
not  do  to  facilitate  a  marriage  that  gives  pleasure  to 
Madame  de  Montespan." 

The  King  seems  never  to  have  entirely  broken  with 
Madame  de  Montespan.  In  1684  he  took  away  her 
apartments  (they  were  near  his)  and  gave  her  some  in 
another  part  of  the  palace. 

But  though  he  never  went  to  her  apartments  she  used 
to  go,  in  company  with  her  sons  and  some  of  the  Court 
ladies,  to  his  apartment.  In  1685,  we  read  of  her  enter- 
taining him  at  a  Fete  of  Marionettes  and  Fancy  Fair,  where 
his  daughters,  Mesdemoiselles  de  Nantes  and  de  Blois, 
acted  as  stallkeepers  and  were  greatly  admired. 

About  this  time  we  hear  of  Madame  de  Montespan 
sending  the  King,  as  a  New  Year's  Gift,  a  splendid  book 
filled  with  pictures  of  all  the  towns  he  had  conquered  in 
Holland  in  1672.  Under  the  pictures  were  commentaries 
by  Boileau  and  Racine. 

In  November,  1686  when  the  King  underwent  an  opera- 
tion, Madame  de  Montespan  wished  to  visit  him,  but  was 
refused  admittance.     (When  some  of  the  royal  family 


PUBLIC  OPINION  ON  THE  MARRIAGE    141 

were  admitted  Madame  de  Maintenon  was  sitting  by  the 
King's  bedside.) 

Madame  de  Montespan  took  this  greatly  to  heart,  and 
retired  to  Fontevrault,  of  which  convent  her  sister  was 
Abbess. 

In  a  letter  dated  3rd  January  1687,  Madame  de 
Maintenon  addressed  her  as  follows  : — 

"  The  King  has  commanded  me  to  tell  you  that  he 
would  like  you  to  return.  If  your  absence  is  the  result 
of  the  displeasure  you  felt  at  being  refused  admittance 
during  the  King's  illness  let  me  assure  you  that  his 
Majesty's  reason  for  not  allowing  you  to  enter  was  that 
he  feared  emotion  that  might  have  done  him  harm.  He 
was  touched  by  your  grief  and  embraced  our  young 
Princes  most  tenderly.  The  Due  du  Maine  has  under- 
taken to  present  my  compliments  to  you.  Pray 
believe,  Madame,  that  whatever  he  may  say  in  my  name, 
will  be  less  than  my  affection  and  gratitude." 

After  her  return  Madame  de  Montespan  was  admitted 
to  the  King's  apartment,  during  his  convalescence  to 
listen  to  the  readings  of  the  "  History  of  Louis  XIV.",  which 
Boileau  and  Racine  were  composing,  and  parts  of  which 
they  read  aloud  to  the  King  as  they  were  completed. 

Madame  de  Montespan  passed  much  time  at  St  Joseph's, 
a  convent  of  which  she  was  protectress — and  where  she 
kept  an  apartment  for  her  own  use. 

In  the  Journal  of  the  Marquis  de  Dangeau  there  is  an 
entry,  20th  December  1690,  as  follows  : — 

"  The  King  goes  to  see  Madame  de  Montespan  at  St 
Joseph's  every  day  after  Mass — he  only  stays  a  few 
minutes." 

In  the  following  year  Madame  de  Montespan  was  deeply 
wounded  by  the  King  depriving  her  of  her  apartment  at 


\ 


142 


MADAME  DE  MAINTENON 


Si 


Versailles  and  allotting  it  to  the  Due  du  Maine,  whose 
apartment  was  given  to  his  sister,  Mademoiselle  de  Blois, 
she  having  been  removed  from  her  mother's  custody  and 
placed  in  the  charge  of  Madame  de  Montchevnieil. 

After  this  took  place  Madame  de  Montespan  decided  to 
retire  altogether  from  Court,  and  sent  Bossuet,  Bishop  of 
Meaux,  to  acquaint  the  King  with  her  decision.  Bossuet 
must  have  been  pleased  to  convey  this  message,  for  years 
previously  he  had  used  every  effort  to  separate  them,  and 
his  efforts  had  been  unsuccessful  and  placed  him  in  a 
somewhat  ludicrous  position.^ 

This  time  her  retirement  actually  took  place.  The  King 
approved  her  decision,  though  he  had  not  had  the  heart  to 
command  it.  She  never  again  appeared  at  Court  except 
on  the  occasions  of  the  marriage  of  the  Due  du  Maine  to 
the  daughter  of  the  Prince  de  Cond6  and  that  of 
Mademoiselle  de  Nantes  to  the  Due  de  Bourbon.  Madame 
de  Montespan  on  both  occasions  showed  great  liberality, 
and  presented  to  the  Due  du  Maine's  bride  a  bed  of  which 
the  gold  and  pearl  embroidery  cost  more  than  a  million 
sterling,  as  well  as  a  casket  of  jewels  estimated  to  be  worth 
two  millions.  To  the  bridegroom  she  presented  a  splendid 
gold  dinner  service.  Madame  de  Montespan's  gifts  to  her 
daughter.  Mademoiselle  de  Nantes,  on  the  occasion  of  her 
marriage  to  the  Due  de  Bourbon,  were  also  very  splendid  ; 
she  wished  by  her  magnificence  to  show  herself  worthy  to 
be  the  mother  of  the  King's  children. 

He  had  given  her  great  wealth,  and  she  also  received  a 
handsome  pension. 

For  a  time  she  lived  in  great  state  at  Paris  and  Clagny, 
the  magnificent  house  which  the  King  had  given  her,  and 

*  See  Chapter  ix. 


PUBLIC  OPINION  ON  THE  MARRIAGE    143 

was  visited  by  her  children  and  "  all  France  "  (to  use  St 
Simon's  expression). 

By  degrees,  however,  she  retired  more  and  more  from  the 
world,  passing  her  time  between  St  Joseph's  and 
Fontevrault.  She  became  a  true  penitent  (she  even 
humbled  herself  so  far  as  to  ask  the  forgiveness  of  her 
husband,  de  Montespan— but  he  took  no  notice  of  her 
letter),  though  she  always  refused  to  perform  the  penances 
her  Confessor  wished  to  impose  on  her.  She  said  :  "  The 
good  I  do  to  others  will  be  more  pleasing  to  God  than  any 
harm  I  could  do  myself,  and  that  I  maintain."  She  spent 
her  great  wealth  in  works  of  charity,  giving  time  and 
personal  services  to  the  poor  inmates  of  the  hospital  or 
home  which  she  had  founded  at  Giron. 

Madame  de  Montespan  died  on  27th  May  1707,  at 
Bourbon,  where  she  went  annually  to  take  the  waters. 
She  was  sixty-six  years  of  age. 

Madame  de  Maintenon  alluded  to  the  death  of  Madame 
de'Montespan  in  a  letter  to  the  Princesse  des  Ursins  as 
follows  : — 

"  I  was  much  affected  by  the  news  of  the  death  of  a 
person  about  whom  I  could  never  think  with  indiffer- 
ence, now  or  at  any  time  in  my  Hfe." 


CHAPTER  XIV 

CHARACTER  OF  MADAME  DE  MAINTENON 

AT  St  Cyr  Madame  de  Maintenon  was  looked 
upon  as  a  saint,  at  the  Court  she  was  con- 
sidered by  m?i:y  a  hypocrite,  at  Paris  a 
person  of  wit,   in  the  rest  of   Europe  an 
immoral  woman. 

She  herself  said :  "  I  will  not  write  my  life,  I  cannot  tell  the 
whole,  if  I  did  it  would  not  be  believed/'  But  an  immense 
number  of  her  letters  have  been  preserved  by  her  intimate 
friends,  especially  the  Ladies  of  St  Cyr,  and  they  show  us 
her  heart,  and  let  us  know  her  as  she  really  was. 

If  in  youth  she  had  followed  the  path  of  virtue  and  been 
scrupulous  as  to  religious  observances  in  order  to  obtain 
the  esteem  of  the  world,  yet  there  is  no  doubt  that  in  later 
life  the  love  of  God  was  the  mainspring  of  her  existence. 

She  wrote  to  Madame  de  Glapion,  the  Superior  of  St 
Cyr,  of  whom  she  was  very  fond  : — 

"  The  feeling  I  excited  was  more  admiration  and 
esteem  than  love.  I  did  not  desire  the  love  of  individuals, 
but  I  wished  my  name  to  be  pronounced  with  admira- 
tion, and  respect,  to  be  a  personage,  and  to  be  approved 
by  people  of  worth. 

"  Reputation,  that  was  my  God.  There  was  nothing 
I  would  not  endure,  no  restraint  I  would  not  put  upon 
myself  for  this  purpose.  Riches  I  did  not  want. 
I  wanted  honour  and  this  raised  me  far  above  self- 
interested  motives. 

"  But  how  far  this  self-esteem  was  from  real  piety  !  " 

Z44 


CHARACTER  OF  MADAME  DE  MAINTENON  145 

Madame  de  Maintenon  never  attempted,  in  the  days  of 
her  greatness,  to  draw  a  veil  over  the  trials  and  humiUations' 
of  her  early  years.  She  had  none  of  the  false  pride  that 
might  have  led  her  to  do  so,  and  was  rather  fond  of  quoting 
her  earlier  experiences  and  relating  anecdotes  of  those 
times,  especially  to  the  pupils  of  St  Cyr.  As  soon  as  her 
fortunes  begun  to  mend,  and  her  resources  admitted  of  it, 
she  adopted  a  poor  relative  of  M.  Scarron,  an  old  maid, 
Mademoiselle  Hurteloir,  who  was  to  be  found  at  Rueil, 
and  then  at  St  Cyr,  as  a  sort  of  privileged  person,  enjoying 
the  advantages  of  the  establishment.  Madame  de 
Maintenon  returned  good  for  evil  to  those  relatives  who 
had  usurped  her  property,  and  could  never  do  enough  for 
the  descendants  of  her  dearly  loved  aunt,  de  Villette. 
Though  Louvois  had  opposed  her  marriage  to  the  King  she 
never  let  him  know,  by  any  alteration  in  her  treatment, 
that  she  was  aware  of  it,  nor  did  she  try  to  influence  the 
King  against  him. 

At  the  Tuileries  she  would  be  only  served  by  those  who 
had  always  served  her,  Bontemps,  Nanon,  Manseau,  who 
had  been  her  attendant  at  Madame  de  Villette's,  and  her 
son,  Delile,  and  she  continued  to  write  twice  a  week  to 
Mother  Celeste,  at  her  old  convent,  as  if  there  had  been  no 
change  in  her  hfe,  and  she  supported  both  the  convents  of 
which  she  had  been  formerly  an  inmate.  And  to  those 
who  had  slighted  her  in  the  days  of  her  poverty  she  always 
returned  good  for  evil. 

Madame  de  Maintenon's  character  will  always  remain 
something  of  an  enigma.  There  was  an  atmosphere  of 
detachment  about  her ;  though  among  them,  she  never 
seemed  to  be  quite  one  of  them,  at  Court.  She  loved  a  life 
of  quiet  and  retirement,  and  would  often  say  how  she 


\ 


146 


MADAME  DE  MAINTENON 


wished  she  could  be  watching  the  nectarines  ripen  on  her 
wall  at  Maintenon  instead  of  taking  part  in  some  brilliant 
Court  pageant.  Yet  her  enemies  incessantly  accue  her 
of  ambition  and  hypocrisy.  "  Cold-hearted  "  is  another 
epithet  very  generally  applied  to  her. 

A  cold-hearted  woman  could  not  have  watched  and 
tended  the  children  confided  to  her  care  so  devotedly,  nor 
have  won  their  affection  as  she  undoubtedly  did.  The 
mutual  affection  between  Madame  de  Maintenon  and  the 
Due  du  Maine  lasted  as  long  as  her  life. 

At  all  times  of  her  life  her  fondness  for  children  was 
quite  remarkable.  Wherever  she  was  she  always  had 
some  child  about  her  whom  she  was  bringing  up.  One  of 
these,  Jeannette  de  Pincre  (daughter  of  a  poor  lady  of 
Brittany  who  brought  her  to  Madame  de  Maintenon,  im- 
ploring her  to  take  charge  of  her),  who  afterwards  became 
Madame  d'Axy,  was  a  very  prominent  personage  in  the 
royal  circle. 

A  few  months  before  Madame  de  Maintenon 's  death  she 
wrote  inviting  a  little  Villette  to  stay  with  her,  and  said  to 
the  child's  mother  :  "  Children  are  never  a  trouble  to  me." 

To  the  last  she  devoted  special  attention  to  a  child  whom 
she  had  adopted  from  among  the  pupils  at  St  Cyr,  and  on 
her  deathbed  some  of  her  last  words  were  that  she  feared 
the  little  ones  must  be  feeling  very  cold  and  she  wished 
she  could  have  a  few  brought  into  her  room  to  get  warm. 

When  there  was  a  famine  and  great  distress  she  could 
think  of  nothing  but  the  sufferings  of  the  people. 

D^lile  Manseau  was  Madame  de  Maintenon 's  agent  or 

»  steward.   Speaking  of  her  to  a  friend  one  day,  he  said  :  "Of 

what  innumerable  good  works  I  could  tell  the  tale,  if  she  had 

not  given  orders  that  they  were  to  be  kept  secret.     How 


\ 


m 


lys 


I       CHARACTER  OF  MADAME  DE  MAINTENON  147 

many  children,  widows  and  families  were  succoured  by  her ! 
How  many  girls  reclaimed  from  vice  !  How  many  officers 
helped,  in  order  to  make  up  for  the  refusal  of  ministers.  If 
I  was  permitted  to  tell  all  I  know  I  should  never  finish. 
But  if  itjpleases  God  all  this  wiU  not  be  lost  to  public 
edification  ;  history  will  detail  at  least  a  part  of  the  virtues 
of  this  inimitable  lady,  who  only  approached  the  King 
with  requests  when  the  unfortunate  needed  help.  She 
never  thought  of  herself,  her  desire  was  that  the  glory  of 
Louis  the  Great  should  be  daily  augmented." 

Here  we  have  a  lady  who  was  a  heroine  in  her  servant's 
eyes  ! 

It  is  inconceivable  that  a  woman  so  full  of  feeling  for 
others  should  be  accused  of  instigating  the  persecutions 
that  followed  the  Revocation  of  the  Edict  of  Nantes. 

Writing  on  the  subject  (6th  October  1686),  she  said  :— 

"The  King  is  taking  measures  for  converting  all 
heretics.  He  has  many  conferences  about  it  with  M  le 
Tellier  and  M.  de  Chateauneuf. 

"  M.  le  Tellier  was  on  the  point  of  death,  but  is  better 
smce  affixmg  his  seal  to  the  Edict  of  Revocation  The 
Kmg  IS  pleased  with  the  idea  of  putting  the  finishing 
touch  to  the  work  of  restoring  heretics  to  the  Church 
Pere  de  la  Chaise  has  promised  that  it  will  not  cost  one 
drop  of  blood,  Louvois  says  the  same." 

Having  heard  that  her  brother  in  his  government  had 
shown  persecuting  zeal  against  the  Huguenots,  Madame  de 
Maintenon  wrote  as  follows  : — 

I  hear  of  you  what  does  not  do  you  honour,  you 
maltreat  the  Huguenots  and  go  out  of  your  way  to  find 
means  and  occasions  to  do  so  :  that  is  not  like  a  man  of 
quality.  Have  pity  on  people  who  are  more  un- 
fortunate than  guilty.     We  were  once  in  the  same  errors 


A^ 


148 


MADAME  DE  MAINTENON 


as  theirs  and  violence  would  never  have  converted  us. 
Henry  IV.  and  many  great  Princes  professed  the  same 
religion.  Men  must  be  drawn  by  gentleness  and  love, 
that  is  the  King's  wish,  and  Jesus  Christ  gave  us  the 
example.  It  is  the  business  of  the  Bishops  and  Cures 
to  make  conversions.  Neither  God  or  the  King  has 
given  you  charge  of  souls.'* 

The  horrors  inflicted  on  the  Huguenots  were  committed 
in  distant  provinces,  where  they  less  easily  came  to  the 
King's  ears — and  it  is  certain  that  neither  he  nor  Madame 
de  Maintenon  knew  the  full  extent  of  them.  She  often 
remarks  in  her  letters  on  the  difliculty  of  anyone  in  her 
position  arriving  at  a  correct  idea  of  affairs  at  a  distance, 
because  interested  persons  preferred  only  to  let  the  King 
know  what  suited  them,  or  what  they  thought  he  would 
like.    At  this  time  the  Due  de  Noailles  wrote  : — 

"  The  Huguenots  are  converted  so  quickly  that  all 
my  soldiers  have  to  do  is  to  stop  one  night  in  a 
place." 

Comte  de  Tesse  wrote  : —  * 

"  All  has  been  effected  quietly  and  without  violence.'' 

Madame  de  Maintenon  was  certainly  not  the  instigator 
of  the  Revocation  of  the  Edict,  or  of  the  cruelties  that 
followed,  but  abusive  and  virrulent  pamphlets  were 
circulated  accusing  her,  and  the  Press  of  England,  and 
Holland  gave  her  no  quarter. 

She  has,  however,  been  unjustly  blamed  on  this  account. 
In  the  first  place  her  influence  in  affairs  of  State  was  not 
sufiicient  to  have  enabled  her  to  effect  the  passing  of  so 
momentous  a  law.  She  herself  says  :  "  The  King  never 
allows  anyone  but  his  Ministers  to  advise  him  on  affairs  of 


li 


I  '. 


CHARACTER  OF  MADAME  DE  MAINTENON  149 

State.     I  can  only  exert  an  indirect  influence  and  I  am 
obliged  to  keep  my  feelings  to  myself."  ^ 

Voltaire  says  with  reference  to  this  matter  : — 

"  She  had  no  share  in  the  Revocation,  that  is  certain. 
She  tolerated  it,  because  she  never  dared  oppose 
Louis  XIV." 

Spannheim,  the  envoy  from  Brandenburg,  himself  a 
descendant  of  Huguenots,  says  the  same  in  his  "  History 
of  the  Times." 

Such  cruelties  and  extreme  measures  were  altogether 
out  of  keeping  with  her  character.  Like  all  CathoHc 
France,  she  desired  that  measures  should  be  taken  to 
convert  the  Huguenots,  but  she  wrote  : — 

"  We  cannot  urge  undue  haste  in  such  matters,  we 
must  convert  not  persecute.  For  fifteen  years  I  have 
counselled  moderation,  and  the  King  has  often  re- 
proached me  for  it.  When  I  suggested  to  him  that  far 
from  bringing  about  conversion,  persecution  would  only 
inflame  the  Protestants  against  the  Catholics,  he  replied  : 
*  I  fear,  Madame,  that  the  mildness  with  which  you  desire 
the  Huguenots  to  be  treated,  arises  from  some  remaining 
sympathy  with  the  religion  of  your  ancestors.'," 

For  the  same  reason — i.e.  that  all  considerations  must 
give  way  to  the  will  of  the  King,  to  the  maintenance  of  his 
supremacy,  when  there  was  a  question  of  allowing  the 
Huguenots  who  had  taken  refuge  abroad  to  return  to 
France,  Madame  de  Maintenon  did  not  encourage  it,  be- 
cause she  thought  to  retract  the  Revocation  and  recall 
fugitives  would  lower  the  King's  prestige  and  be  a  menace 
to  his  authority. 

»  See  her  letter  written  in  1697,  given  by  Languet  de  G6ry  in  his 
Memoirs. 


I  .^' 


ISO 


MADAME  DE  MAINTENON 


Before  arriving  at  this  decision  there  must  have  been  a 
struggle  between  her  natural  benevolence  and  her  desire  to 
see  the  Church  triumphant  and  the  King  supreme. 

No  one  is  faultless,  and  we  cannot  approve  of  the  course 
she  took  in  connection  with  the  Revocation,  nor  of  her 
failure  to  stand  by  Cardinal  Noailles  and  Racine  ^  when 
they  incurred  the  King's  displeasure. 

1  With  regard  to  Racine,  Madame  de  Maintenon  only  temporised, 
waiting  for  the  King's  displeasure  to  blow  over.  The  story  told  of  Racine 
being  banished  from  Court,  and  consequently  dying  of  grief,  because  the 
King  was  displeased  at  a  pamphlet  he  wrote  at  Madame  de  Maintenon's 
request,  depicting  the  misery  of  the  people  during  the  war,  is  incorrect, 
though  it  is  very  often  quoted  by  Madame  de  Maintenon's  enemies. 
Racine  did  incur  the  displeasure  of.  the  King,  who  refused  to  remit  some 
taxes  which  were  a  great  burden  to  him. 

St  Simon  says  that  the  King's  displeasure  was  excited  by  some  mal  d 
pfopos  remarks  on  the  worthlessness  of  Scarron's  works,  which  covered 
Madame  de  Maintenon  with  confusion.  Others  say  that  Racine's 
adherence  to  the  Jansenists  brought  him  into  disfavour.  The  most 
generally  accepted  idea  is  that  the  King  came  one  day  into  Madame  de 
Maintenon's  room  and  found  her  reading  the  before-mentioned 
pamphlet.  When  the  King  asked  the  author's  name  Madame  de  Main- 
tenon at  first  withheld  it,  but  was  at  last  obUged  to  give  Racine's  name. 
The  King  was  annoyed,  and  said  :  "  Because  he  can  write  good  verses, 
does  he  think  he  knows  everything  ?  Because  he  is  a  poet,  does  he 
wish  to  be  a  Minister  of  State  ?  " 

That  he  was  dismissed  from  Court,  and  that  Madame  de  Maintenon 
had  a  secret  interview  with  him  in  the  grounds  of  St  Cyr,  and  told  him  to 
hide  when  the  King  was  seen  approaching,  is  a  fable  resting  on  the 
authority  of  some  Memoirs  written  by  Racine's  son,  who  was  six  years  old 
when  his  father  died. 

Racine  may  have  kept  away  from  the  Court  for  a  time  by  Madame 
de  Maintenon's  advice,  but  he  was  not  long  out  of  favour,  for  the  King 
subsequently  gave  him  a  fine  set  of  apartments  at  Versailles,  in  which 
he  passed  the  last  two  years  of  his  hfe.  He  was  always  invited  to  ac- 
company the  Court  to  Marly,  which  was  a  maxk  of  favour. 

When  Racine  died  the  King  expressed  great  regret  and  spoke  of  him 
and  his  works  in  such  eulogistic  terms  that  Boileau  remarked :  "  Many 
of  the  courtiers  would  have  been  glad  to  die  for  the  sake  of  being  spoken 
of  in  such  a  manner  by  their  King." 

^  See  Due  de  Noailles,  "  Vie  de^Madame  de  Maintenon,"  vol.  ii. 


CHARACTER  OF  MADAME  DE  MAINTENON  151 

To  displease  the  King  was  the  one  thing  she  dreaded. 
The  celebrated  Jean  Paul  Maraune,  after  speaking  of  the 
most  prominent  ladies  of  the  Court  of  France,  says  : 

"  All  are  eclipsed  by  Madame  de  Maintenon,  who  has 
known  how  to  become  the  delight  of  the  King  by  virtues 
as  pure  as  they  are  rare,  and  by  an  extreme  uprightness 
of  soul.  She  is  absolutely  without  inclination  to  harm 
anyone,  and  she  desires  to  do  good  to  all,  when  she  can 
do  so  without  importuning  the  King.  Her  first  thought 
is  not  to  displease  the  King  who  reveres  and  cherishes 
her." 


Madame  de  Maintenon  was  not  a  passionate  or  sensual 
woman,  otherwise  she  could  hardly  have  stood  upright  and 
maintained  an  unsullied  reputation  in  the  dissolute  circle 
which  frequented  her  husband,  M.  Scarron's  house — many 
of  whom  would  doubtless  have  been  glad  to  console  the 
lovely  young  wife  for  the  infirmities  of  the  deformed  and 
aged  husband. 

It  is  possible  that  she  inherited  a  strain  of  puritanism 
from  her  ancestors,  the  Reformers.  She  herself  says  : 
'*  Men  followed  me  because  I  had  youth  and  beauty  but 
I  excited  feelings  of  friendship  rather  than  of  passion." 
There  are  many  people  who  cannot  believe  that  a  woman 
can  lead  by  preference  a  chaste  life,  or  understand  any 
other  link  between  men  and  women  than  that  of  sexual 
attraction.  To  such  people,  a  woman  who  was  chaste 
as  ice  and  pure  as  snow  v/ould  only  appear  sly  and  hypo- 
critical. But  those  who  have  studied  the  question  of  the 
aspersions  cast  by  some  people  on  her  character,  princi- 
pally in  connection  with  her  staying  in  the  house  of  Ninon 
de  I'Enclos,  and  her  supposed  intimacy  with  Villar9eaux, 
have  decided  that  such  aspersions  are  without  foundation. 


J 


152 


MADAME  DE  MAINTENON 


M.  Geoffroy,  writing  in  1887,  says :  At  this  date  it  is 
superfluous  to  refute  them/' 

No  one  was  more  intimate  with  Madame  de  Maintenon 
than  Madame  de  Montespan,  and  in  the  latter's  Memoirs 
we  find  oft-repeated  expressions  of  unstinted  admiration 
for  the  former's  person  and  talents  and  respect  for  her 
character,  in  spite  of  their  quarrels. 

As  there  are  many  people  who  think  all  pure  women 
"  hypocrites,"  so  there  are  just  as  many  who  class  all  pro- 
fession of  religion  as  "  hypocrisy."  But  to  many  people 
with  whom  religion  is  the  mainspring  of  hfe,  it  is  a  sort  of 
sixth  sense. 

A  great  French  statesman  wrote  of  himself :  **  I  was 
created  rehgious,  as  the  air  is  created  transparent.  My 
soul  was  not  separable  from  the  sentiment  of  God." 

But  to  those  who  are  bom  without  this  sixth  sense,  it  is 
so  incomprehensible  that  they  can  only  characterise  it  as 
"hypocrisy"— i.e.  a  sentiment  falsely  assumed  for  some 
purpose.  There  is  nothing  that  Madame  de  Maintenon  is 
more  often  accused  of  than  religious  hypocrisy.  But  we  fail 
to  see  what  she  had  to  gain  by  an  assumption  of  religion. 
It  required  a  good  deal  of  moral  courage  to  profess  and  act 
up  to  rehgious  principles  in  the  society  in  which  she  moved ; 
and  nothing  but  genuine  religious  convictions  could  have 
enabled  her  to  lead  a  blameless  hfe  at  one  of  the  most 
corrupt  Courts  the  world  has  ever  seen,  and  to  effect 
by  her  influence  a  complete  and  lasting  change  in  the  life 
and  character  of  Louis  XIV. 

Her  position  occasionally  forced  her  into  inconsistencies, 
but  the  ruhng  principles  of  her  hfe  were :  moderation,  dis- 
interestedness, compassion  and  the  fear  of  God.  ] 

In  later  hfe  she  accused  herself  of  ambition  as  a  sin. 


I 


CHARACTER  OF  MADAME  DE  MAINTENON  153 

Fenelon,  in  his  letters  of  advice,  charges  her  with  "  the 
ambition  to  be  thought  perfect  by  the  great  and  so  to 
obtain  power." 

She  herself  says  :  "  My  ambition  was  to  have  my  name 
pronounced  with  admiration  and  respect  "—Not  the  vulgar 
desire  of  obtaining  wealth  to  display  in  ostentatious  splen- 
dour, but  the  subtler  ambition  of  proving  herself  above 
this.  To  attain  this  aim  what  marvellous  powers  of  self- 
restraint  and  self-command  were  necessary  !  One  cannot 
imagine  Madame  de  Maintenon  ever  "  letting  herself  go  " 
and  having  a  really  good  time  of  careless  enjoyment. 

We  hear  much  of  her  marvellous  "  tact."  From  what 
qualities  does  "  tact  "  proceed  ?  From  a  kind  heart  full  of 
consideration  for  others  and  smypathy  with  and  insight 
into  their  feelings.  In  fact,  from  unselfishness.  It  was  said 
of  her  that  even  when  relating  the  witty  stories  for  which 
she  was  famous  she  was  careful  not  to  irritate  the  pride  or 
wound  the  feelings  of  the  most  sensitive. 

One  day,  when  she  had  been  much  provoked  she  said  to 
Mademoiselle  d'Aumale  :  "  Leave  the  room  !  for  I  am 
afraid  of  succumbing  to  my  desire  to  talk  to  you,  and  if  I 
do,  I  shall  be  wanting  in  charity.  I  refuse  to  allow  myself 
the  consolation  of  speaking  about  certain  people— it  would 
be  a  relief,  but  charity  forbids  it." 

She  herself  writes  : — 

"  Women  liked  me  because  I  thought  more  of  them 
than  of  myself,  and  took  as  much  pains  to  amuse  them, 
as  I  should  have  done  to  please  a  Court  gallant." 

One  of  the  maxims  that  she  most  often  inculcated  at  St 
Cyr  was  :  "  To  please  others  one  must  forget  oneself." 
After  years  of  self-repression  it  is  no  wonder  that  she 


154 


MADAME  DE  MAINTENON 


came  to  look  upon  solitude  as  her  greatest  treat,  and  a  rest 
and  relaxation  after  the  endless  fatigue  of  always  setting 
aside  her  own  inclinations  and  pleasing  others.  If  she  was 
ambitious  she  suffered  the  penalty. 

"  Who  knows,"  she  wrote,  "  whether  Providence  is  not 
saying  to  me  :  *  You  have  desired  honour  and  glory,  you 
shall  have  them  to  satiety.' 

'*  The  wildest  imagination  could  not  have  dreamed 
I  should  attain  this  height  of  fortune.  I  have  been  loved 
by  all ;  I  was  young  and  pretty  and  excited  admiration ; 
later  I  enjoyed  intellectual  companionship,  I  protest  to 
you  that  all  this  leaves  only  a  terrible  void — only  the 
love  and  service  of  God  gives  peace." 

Voltaire  remarks  that  if  anything  could  disillusion  or 
dissuade  the  ambitious,  this  letter  would  do  so. 

Madame  de  Maintenon  spoke  of  her  dissatisfaction  with 
greatness  partly  to  encourage  Madame  de  Glapion  who, 
though  full  of  good  qualities,  was  not  without  struggles  of 
mind,  and  occasionally  cast  a  longing  thought  on  the  flesh- 
pots  of  Egypt — i.e.  the  pleasures  of  the  world  which  she  had 
renounced,  having  really  adopted  the  life  at  St  Cyr  more 
through  love  of  Madame  de  Maintenon  and  pleasure  in 
the  dignified  position  of  the  Ladies  of  St  Louis  than  by 
real  vocation  for  the  religious  life. 

Madame  de  Maintenon,  generally  so  reserved  and  self- 
contained,  showed  herself  as  she  really  was  to  Madame  de 
Glapion  ;  to  her  she  opened  her  heart  and  spoke  of  all  her 
troubles  at  Court.  To  the  pen  of  this  nun  we  owe  the  por- 
trait of  Madame  de  Maintenon  en  deshabille,  as  one  may 
say.i 

*  Madame  de  Glapion  used  to  write  down  her  conversations  with 
Madame  de  Maintenon,  and  these  as  well  as  the  letters  were  preserved 
at  St  Cyr. 


CHARACTER  OF  MADAME  DE  MAINTENON  155 

To  her  Madame  de  Maintenon  said  :  "I  was  at  first 
much  offended  and  out  of  humour  if  the  King  did  not 
listen  to  my  advice  or  grant  my  requests.  Then  I  decided 
that  these  were  not  my  affairs,  that  God  had  not  appointed 
me  to  govern  the  State  or  distribute  its  benefits — and,  by 
the  grace  of  God,  for  many  years,  I  have  never  shown 
temper  if  my  wishes  were  not  attended  to.  The  King  saw 
me  always  serene  and  cheerful.  If  he  had  not  found 
pleasure  in  my  society,  he  would  have  sought  it  else- 
where." 

The  following  is  a  beautiful  letter  of  advice  to  the 
Duchesse  de  Ventadour,  Charlotte  de  Mothe-Houdancourt, 
daughter  of  the  Due  de  Cardonne  and  Madame  de  Prie, 
Governess  of  the  Children  of  France  in  the  reign  of  Louis 
Xin.  ;  Madame  de  Ventadour  succeeded  her  mother  in 
the  post  in  1704. 

"  18th  March  1700. — Understand  my  dear  Duchess, 
that  there  is  no  peace  for  those  who  resist  God.  If  there 
is  any  joy  in  the  world  it  is  reserved  for  those  who  have 
a  pure  conscience  ;  a  bad  conscience  would  turn  the 
pleasantest  place  into  a  hell.  The  peace  of  God  is  very 
different  to  the  faJse  joys  of  the  world.  How  is  it  to  be 
acquired  ?  By  a  good  confession,  followed  by  a  regular 
use  of  the  Sacraments,  and  a  veritable  aversion  for  evil. 
In  such  a  state  of  piety  one  often  has  troubles,  but  God 
only  makes  us  feel  our  weakness  in  order  to  give  new 
strength.  The  essential  thing  is  never  to  act  contrary 
to  the  inward  light,  and  to  follow  God  wherever  He  leads 
us.  What  rebuffs  you  is  that  you  only  see  what  religion 
demands  of  you,  not  what  it  gives.  You  shudder  when 
you  think  what  it  makes  necessary  for  us  to  do,  you 
would  be  delighted  if  you  realised  what  it  makes  one 
love  !  No  Yoke  is  so  light  as  that  of  the  Saviour  ; 
those  who  are  His  are  always  content.  Cowardly  souls 
who  wish  to  compromise  between  God  and  the  World 
know  no  peace.     It  is  not  necessary  to  leave  the  world, 


r 


156 


MADAME  DE  MAINTENON 


but  to  renounce  its  spirit.  Religion  is  not  hard :  it 
asks  nothing  without  giving  the  power  to  execute  it. 
Receive  my  advice  as  proof  of  the  interest  I  take  in 
you.'' 

Madame  de  Maintenon's  over  scrupulous,  self-torment- 
J  ing  temperament  prevented  her  ever  really  enjoying  life, 
though  doubtless  her  virtues  and  devotion  enabled  her  to 
obtain  peace  and  bliss  in  heaven. 

She  writes  to  a  friend  soon  after  her  marriage  to  the 
King : — 

"  I  am  astonished  that  the  Abbe  Gobelin  who  up  to  the 
present  time  has  been  my  Confessor  and  treated  me  quite 
severely,  has  now  become  quite  useless  to  me  on  account 
of  the  excessive  respect  he  feels  for  me  ;  the  constraint 
he  is  under  makes  him  afraid  to  find  fault  or  give  me 
sincere  advice  in  spite  of  all  I  say  to  him.  Consequently 
I  have  been  obliged  to  replace  him  by  the  Bishop  of 
Chartres,  who  is  a  Saint  and  quite  iminfiuenced  by 
woridly  dignities." 

This  Bishop  said  to  her  :  "  You  love  one  whom  you 
ought  to  love — and  he  will  often  prove  your  roughest  Cross, 
for  your  opinions  differ.  You  are  at  an  age  which  desires 
repose  but  you  have  to  be  always  on  the  alert,  in  spite  of 
being  delicate  and  often  indisposed.  You  have  enough 
to  bear  without  mortifying  the  flesh  by  self-imposed 
austerities.  Your  duty  is  to  keep  in  good  health.  The 
right  way  to  obtain  blessings  for  the  State  and  the  King  is 
not  by  outcry,  or  fatiguing  him  by  complaints  ;  it  is  to  be 
done  by  edifying  him  by  disinterestedness,  and  by  opening 
his  heart  through  sincere  and  patient  friendship  with 
cheerfulness  ;  but  to  talk  with  heat  and  bitterness  and 
return  again  and  again  to  the  charge  is  doing  evil  that  good 
may  come." 


CHARACTER  OF  MADAME  DE  MAINTENON  1 57 

Madame  de  Maintenon,  on  being  reproached  for  not 
exerting  enough  influence  on  pubhc  affairs,  wrote  : — 

"  I  conjure  you  to  look  upon  me  as  a  woman  incapable  • 
of  managing  affairs,  and  who  has  heard  them  talked  of 
too  late  in  hfe  to  possess  any  talent  in  such  matters,  but 
above  all  as  one  who  hates  them  still  more  on  account  of 
her  ignorance." 

The  Confessor  replied  : 

"  You  are  more  enlightened  and  capable  of  managing 
pubhc  affairs  than  you  think,  and  it  is  your  duty  to 
inform  yourself  thoroughly  of  what  is  going  on,  so  that 
if  an  opportunity  occurs  of  influencing  the  King  for 
good,  you  may  not  fail  to  take  advantage  of  it." 

Although  so  many  important  affairs  were  forced  on  her 
notice,  Madame  de  Maintenon  excelled  in  the  occupations 
of  her  own  sex.  She  imitated  the  wise  woman  of  Holy 
Writ  '*  who  seeketh  wool  and  flax  and  worketh  diUgently 
with  her  hands."  Madame  de  Maintenon  spun  or 
worked  at  tapestry  while  dictating  letters,  as  well  as 
when  alone  with  the  King  and  even  in  the  King's 
coach. 

Among  the  Crown  furniture  a  magnificent  state-bed 
was  preserved  (up  to  the  period  of  the  Revolution),  it  had 
hangings  embroidered  in  silk  and  gold,  and  pearls  and 
small  diamonds,  which  Madame  de  Maintenon  had  worked 
for  Louis  XIV. 

We  think  that  the  prominent  characteristic  of  Madame 
de  Maintenon  was  what  may  be  called  "  sanctified  common- 
sense,"  which  is  the  prevailing  tone  of  her  letters  of  advice, 
and  it  enabled  her  to  steer  her  way  through  the  difficulties 
which  beset  her  path. 

The  cynical  Bussy  de  Rabutin  wrote  of  her  :— 


158 


MADAME  DE  MAINTENON 


"  No  one  was  more  generally  beloved  than  Madame 
de  Main  tenon,  and  she  must  possess  as  much  goodness 
of  heart  as  other  good  quahties — because  generally 
merit  only  excites  envy — but,  barring  a  few  individuals, 
everyone  is  delighted  at  her  prosperity.  The  truth 
must  be  told.  To  whatever  fortune  she  attains  it  will 
be  less  than  her  merit." 


I 


(    I 


-'Hf*5'; 


f 


From  an  fni^raz'in^  in  the  British  Museum 


CHAPTER  XV 

COURT  LIFE   FROM   THE   INSIDE 

IT  is  admitted   that  after  the   marriage  Mdme.   de 
Maintenon    gave    herself    no    airs.    She    passed 
most  of  the  day  in   her   room  at  Versailles,  en- 
shrined in  what  she  called  her  "  niche,"  a  three- 
comered  sofa  of  red  damask,  and  here  she  received  her 
visitors. 

Her  apartment  ^  consisted  of  three  rooms  of  moderate 
size-K)pposite  to  the  King's— with  only  the  passage 
between  them. 

In  the  principal  room  was  a  bureau  at  which  the  King 
sat ;  his  armchair  was  against  the  wall,  and  near  it  was  a 
seat  for  the  Minister  in  attendance. 

Her  "  niche  "  Wi^s  on  the  other  side  of  the  room,  and 
beyond  that  was  an  alcove  with  her  bed  in  it. 

Occasionally,  when  the  King  had  no  work  with  his 
Ministers,  select  dinners,  followed  by  music  or  theatricals, 
took  place  in  her  apartments;  but  ordinarily  the 
Ministers  would  bring  their  portfolios  after  dinner,  while 
Mdme.  de  Maintenon  sat  at  her  embroidery  listening  to 
the  discussion,  but  never  volunteering  her  advice.  "  Que 
pense,  t'en,  Votre  SoUdite  ?  "  Louis  would  often  ask. 
She  would  smile,  pretend  ignorance,  talk  of  something 
else,  but  eventually  lead  the  conversation  back  to  the 

» The  apartment  now  forms  part  of  the  Mus6e  de  Versailles,  and  in  it 
are  the  battle-pieces  of  the  campaigns  of  1793. 

»J9 


^ 


\. 


i\ 


t  r 


1 60 


MADAME  DE  MAINTENON 


J 


point  she  wished  to  carry,  or  to  the  name  of  the  person 
she  wished  to  favour.  But  it  had  to  be  done  very  care- 
fully. There  was  nothing  that  Louis  would  have  re- 
sented more  than  the  idea  that  he  was  being  '*  managed." 
His  Ministers  knew  that  out  of  several  measures  that 
they  might  lay  before  him,  he  would  invariably  refuse  one, 
in  order  to  show  his  power. 

It  has  been  said  that  the  Ministers  of  State  were  ''  under 
Mdme.  de  Maintenon's  heel  "  ;  that  affairs  of  Church  and 
State,  Patronage,  Justice,  all  were  in  her  hands.  This  is 
a  great  exaggeration.  The  King  did  not  always  require 
her  to  remain  while  he  was  at  work  with  Ministers,  and 
she  would  then  go  to  her  oratory,  or  into  the  adjoining 
room  to  keep  company  with  the  Princesses,  who  were  wait- 
ing till  the  King's  work  was  over  to  talk  with  and  amuse 
him.  She  never  attended  Coimcils  (though  it  has  been 
said  she  did),  but  Ministers  Hked  to  have  audiences  with 
her  and  to  acquaint  her  with  affairs,  and  they  endeavoured 
to  imbue  her  with  their  ideas,  thinking  her  influence 
with  the  King  to  be  greater  than  it  was.  She  herself 
said  that  she  could  only  exercise  an  indirect  influence, 
endeavouring  in  private  conversations  with  the  King  to 
put  certain  points  of  view  in  a  favourable  Hght ;  and  she 
often  said,  how  at  first  she  was  amazed  and  very  angry 
that  even  the  favours  she  asked  for,  which  had  no  con- 
nection with  State  affairs,  were  not  granted. 

Mdme.  de  Caylus,  her  neice,  who  was  most  intimate 
with  her,  and  her  Secretary,  Mdlle.  d'Aumale,  who  was  a 
daily  witness  of  all  that  went  on  in  the  inner  circle  at 
Court,  both  say  that  Mdme.  de  Mamtenon  did  not  inter- 
fere in  State  affairs.  The  King  was  jealous  of  his  authority 
and  would  have  resented  it.    Her  interference  in  public 


COURT  LIFE  FROM  THE  INSIDE        161 

matters  was  much  less  than  is  generally  supposed.  She 
was  not  one  of  those  intriguers  of  whom  Cardinal  Mazarin 
spoke  so  caustically. 

"  We  have  here  in  France,"  he  said,  "  a  set  of  pohtical 
women  who  want  to  meddle  in  everything  ;  to  see  all,  hear 
all,  know  all,  and,  worst  of  all,  to  tangle  all.  I  beheve  they 
would  refuse  to  sleep  with  their  husbands  or  lovers  at 
night,  unless  they,  during  the  day,  told  them  all  the  affairs 
of  State.  Among  others  we  have  three,  Mesdames  de 
Longueville  and  de  Chevreuse  and  the  Princess  Palatine, 
who  put  us  every  day  into  a  worse  confusion  than  ever 
there  was  at  Babei.'* 

Such  a  woman  Mdme.  de  Maintenon  emphatically  was 
not. 

She  was  much  more  occupied  in  pleasing  him  who 
governed,  than  in  attempting  herself  to  govern  ;  and  she 
husbanded  her  influence  to  make  it  more  effectual,  using 
it  with  great  circumspection.  She  only  really  cared  for 
matters  connected  with  religion  or  philanthropy,  and  J 
scrupulously  avoided  participation  in  intrigues  or  cabals 
of  any  sort.  However  importunate  the  petitioner  for 
her  influence  might  be,  she  could  never  be  induced  to 
bring  to  the  King's  notice  anything  that  she  thought 
might  be  disagreeable  to  him. 

She  was  thoroughly  disinterested  ;  sought  nothing  for 
herself,  neither  wealth  nor  outward  grandeur  of  any  kind. 
She  refused  all  the  King's  offers  to  enrich  her ;  her  in- 
come as  the  Monarch's  wife  being  only  eighty  thousand 
francs  yearly  ;  though  Mdme.  de  Montespan's  pension 
after  her  retirement  was  two  thousand  louis  per  month. 

Mdme.  de  Maintenon's  devotion  to  the  King  was 
unbounded.    Her  secretary,  Mdlle.  d'Aumale,  says  : — 


/ 


V  y 


/ 


^ 


i 


l62 


MADAME  DE  MAINTENON 


"  She  never  allowed  him  to  see  her  with  any  other 
than  a  serene  and  satisfied  mien.  I  have  seen  her 
sometimes  weary,  full  of  vexation,  worried  and  ill,  put 
on  the  most  smiling  air  when  the  King  entered  ;  she 
would  divert  him  in  a  hundred  ways,  and  entertain 
him  by  her  conversation  for  four  hours  at  a  time, 
without  talking  scandal,  and  without  yawning  or  re- 
peating herself.  At  night  when  he  had  retired  and 
her  bed  curtains  were  drawn,  she  would  say  to  me  : 
'  I  have  only  the  strength  to  tell  you  that  I  cannot  say 
another  word.* 

"  She  was  often  almost  overwhelmed  by  the  cares 
incident  to  her  position  and  would  say,  '  God  permits 
me  to  suffer  all  this,  in  order  to  detach  me  from  the 
world.  He  has  punished  me  for  ambition  by  fulfiUing 
my  wishes.'  " 

The  Due  de  Noailles,  in  his  "  Life  of  Mdme.  de  Main- 
tenon,"  says  that  in  the  reign  of  Louis  XIV.  French  society 
was  at  its  apogee,  and  that  to  it  Europe  owes  the  politeness 
and  social  graces  that  spread  through  all  its  kingdoms 
and  revolutionized  manners.  The  upper  classes  were 
remarkable  for  dignity,  decorum,  noble  manners,  wit, 
urbanity  and  exterior  magnificence,  and  there  had  never 
been  an  epoch  when  there  were  more  minds  of  the  first 

order. 

Balzac,  Chapelain,  Voiture,  Segrais,  the  Scuderys  and 
the  great  Comeille  were  followed  by  MoHere,  Racine,  and 
Boileau.  At  this  time  the  French  language  was  developed 
and  consolidated,  and  acquired  the  precision  and  clear- 
ness that  has  made  it  the  intellectual  language  of  Europe. 
In  effecting  this  Mdme.  de  Maintenon  had  no  small  part. 
St  Beuve  speaks  of  the  excellent  language  of  the  eighteenth 
century,  which  he  says  Mdme.  de  Maintenon  brought  to 
perfection,  and  that  it  was  first  spoken  by  her  pupils  at 
St  Cyr.     "  The  language  of  St  Cyr,"  he  continues,  **  forms 


COURT  LIFE  FROM  THE  INSIDE 

a  distinct  era  in  the  evolution  of  the  French  language  i? 
the  reign  of  Louis  XIV.  It  is  the  diction  of  Racine  and 
Masillon,  but  more  concise  and  sober ;  a  distinct  school, 
pure,  clear,  and  precise.  It  was  used  to  perfection  by 
the  first  pupils  of  St  Cyr."  ^ 

It  was  not  alone  in  this  way  that  Mdme.  de 
Maintenon  rendered  services  to  French  hterature,  for 
"  Esther  "  and  "  Athalie,"  the  masterpieces  of  Racine, 
owed  their  existence  to  her. 

Although  it  is  often  said  that  a  period  of  decadence 
began  with  her  marriage  to  the  King,  yet  an  era  which 
saw  Racine,  Moliere,  La  Fontaine,  and  Bruyere  at  their 
zenith,  when  Feneleon  wrote  "  Telemaque,"  Boileau  and 
Bossuet  history,  and  Amauld  and  Pascal  theology,  cannot 
be  correctly  called  decadent.  > 

Nor  were  astronomers  and  scientists  idle — the  King 
encouraged  and  supported  them  all,  and  admitted  some 
among  them  to  his  intimacy. 

Mdme.  de  Maintenon's  influence  did  not  diminish 
intellectual  progress,  while  it  elevated  the  morality  of 
plays  and  novels,  and  if  these  can  be  trusted  as  a  picture 
of  the  age,  the  morals  also  of  society  in  general.  If  there 
was  hypocrisy  it  was  not  a  new  growth,  for  Tartuffe  had 
been  depicted  before  Mdme.  de  Maintenon  came  to 
Versailles. 

Of  the  circle  by  whom  she  was  more  immediately 
surrounded  the  principal  personages  were :  The  Due 
d'Orleans,  called  "  Monsieur  "—brother  of  the  King, 
and  his  wife  Charlotte— Elizabeth  of  Bavaria,  daughter 
of  the  Elector  of  the  Rhine  Palatinate.  She  was  called 
"  Madame."    Their  children  were  :    The  Due  de  Chartres 

1  See  his  "  Gal6rie  des  Femmes  c61ebres." 


MADAME  DE  MAINTENON 

afterwards  the  Regent  d'Orleans)  and  a  daughter,  married 
to  the  Prince  of  Lorraine. 

The  King's  eldest  son  the  Dauphin,  called 
"  Monseigneur,"  and  his  wife  the  Dauphiness,  daughter 
of  the  Elector  of  Bavaria.  Their  three  sons  were  the 
Dukes  of  Burgundy,  Anjou,  and  of  Berry. 

The  great  Conde,  brother  of  the  King  of  Navarre. 
The  eldest  son  of  this  house  had  the  title  of  M.  le  Due ; 
he  married  the  Princess  Anne  of  Bavaria  ;  their  grandson 
was  the  Due  de  Bourbon,  who  married  Mdme.  de  Monte- 
span's  daughter,  Mdlle.  de  Nantes. 

Then  there  were  the  Princes  of  Conti,  nephews  of  the 
great  Conde,  and  the  two  Vendomes,  grandsons  of 
Henri  IV.  and  Gabrielle  d'Estrees. 

"  La  Grande  Mademoiselle,"  the  King's  cousin,  daughter 
of  Gaston  d'Orleans,  brother  of  Louis  XIIL^ 

Besides  these  there  were  the  King's  children  by  Mdme. 
de  Montespan,  and  his  daughter  by  la  VaUiere,  married 
to  the  Prince  de  Conti,  and  her  brother  Count  Vermandois. 

The  Due  du  Maine  was  the  King's  favourite  son,  and 
his  marriage  to  Mdlle.  de  Bourbon-Conde  was  one  of  the 
grand  fimctions  which  took  place  at  this  time. 

Writing  to  Mdme.  de  Brinon,  March  17,  1692,  Mdme. 
de  Maintenon  refers  to  it  as  follows  : — 


**  The  King  is  very  pleased  with  the  Duchesse  du 
Maine.  I  hear  she  is  to  pass  Holy  Week  at  Maubisson, 
take  care  that  she  has  plenty  of  rest.  She  is  being 
killed  here  by  the  constraint  and  fatigues  of  Court 
Life  ;  she  is  weighed  down  by  gold  and  jewels.  Her 
head-dress  weighs  more  than  her  whole  person.*    All 

1  See  page  97. 

•The  Duchesse  du  Maine  and  all  the  Prince  de  Conde's  daughters 
were  unusually  small  and  short. 


COURT  LIFE  FROM  THE   INSIDE        165 

this  prevents  her  growing  and  having  good  health. 
She  never  eats  or  sleeps.  I  am  afraid  she  has 
been  married  too  young. ^  She  looks  much  prettier 
without  all  this  fine  dress.  I  should  like  her  to  be 
playing  about  at  St  Cyr.  There  are  no  austerities  in  a 
convent  comparable  to  those  which  Court  etiquette 
imposes  on  people  in  high  positions." 

Another  letter,  August  27,  1693  : — 

'*  You  deceived  me  about  the  most  essential  thing 
in  Mdme.  du  Maine,  she  is  without  any  reHgion.  I  do 
not  wish  to  make  her  a  nun,  but  I  should  wish  her  to 
please  M.  du  Maine,  who  is  sensible  enough  to  wish  his 
wife  to  be  wiser  than  some  others.  I  confess  I  should 
wish  to  be  able  to  love  the  Duchesse  more  than  anyone 
else,  she  being  what  she  is  to  one  who  is  the  object  of 
my  warmest  affection.  She  is  in  love  with  her  husband, 
and  he  loves  her  to  distraction." 

Another  letter,  October  14,  1693  : — 

"  I  am  very  pleased  with  the  Duchesse  du  Maine  ; 
if  she  carries  out  all  she  proposes,  her  little  person  will 
be  worth  more  than  all  the  others  put  together." 

Mdme.  de  Maintenon  was,  however,  doomed  to  be 
disappointed  in  the  Duchesse  du  Maine,  who,  as  she  grew 
older,  gave  proof  of  a  very  imperious  and  independent 
disposition.  She  hated  the  restraints  of  Versailles,  and 
set  up  a  Httle  Court  of  her  own  at  Sceaux,  where  she 
surrounded  herself  by  literary  men  and  people  of  cultured 
tastes,  and  occupied  herself  with  theatrical  performances, 
which  the  Court  of  Versailles  never  failed  to  attend.  She 
was  a  very  energetic  little  person  and  worked  day  and 
night  at  her  amusements — but  she  did  not  make  her 
husband  very  happy.     She  looked  down  on  him  on  account 

*  Her  age  was  fourteen. 


i66 


MADAME  DE  MAINTENON 


of  his  birth  (it  had  been  thought  a  great  honour  for  him 
to  obtain  a  bride  of  the  old  blood  Royal),  and  her  ambition 
eventually  had  most  disastrous  results.^ 

The  Httle  Duchesse  appears  to  have  had  a  warm  comer 
in  her  heart  for  Mdme.  de  Maintenon,  to  whom  she  once 
wrote  : — 

"  I  beg  you  to  be  convinced  that  I  shall  always  re- 
gard you  as  a  mother — and  that  it  is  not  possible  for  any- 
one to  have  more  esteem,  affection  and  gratitude  than 
I  feel  for  you.  L.  Ben£dicite  de  Bourbon." 

As  for  the  Due  du  Maine  he  wrote  : — 

"  Our  mutual  affection  has  been  tried  and  not  found 
wanting  nor  will  it  ever  be,  as  you  yourself  have  often 
said.  Louis  Auguste  de  Bourbon." 

The  King's  attachment  to  Mdme.  de  Maintenon  seemed 
to  become  more  profound  instead  of  lessening  as  the  years 
passed.  In  public  he  always  treated  her  with  the  greatest 
deference,  and  with  far  more  empressement  and  gallantry 
than  he  had  ever  shown  the  Queen.  St  Simon  gives  the 
following  description  of  a  scene  that  excited  much  com- 
ment, and  which  occurred  ten  years  after  the  marriage. 
The  occasion  was  a  great  Review  that  took  place  at 
Compi^gne  in  1698.  After  describing  the  Review,  when 
sixty  thousand  men  manoeuvred  and  went  through  all 
the  details  of  a  regular  campaign,  St  Simon  continues  :— 

"  But  a  spectacle  of  another  sort  was  that  which  the 
King,  from  the  summit  of  the  rampart,  presented  to  all 
his  army  and  to  the  innumerable  crowd  of  spectators 
of  all  kinds  in  the  plain  below.  Mdme.  de  Maintenon 
sat  alone  in  her  sedan  chair,  facing  the  plain  and  the 

*  The  details  will  be  given  later  on ;  see  Conspiracy  of  Cellamare  in 
the»  twenty-seventh  chapter. 


COURT  LIFE  FROM  THE   INSIDE        167 

troops,  its  three  windows  drawn  up,  her  porters  having 
retired  to  a  distance.  On  the  left  pole  of  the  chair  in 
front  sat  the  Duchess  of  Burgundy,  and  on  the  same 
side,  were  standing  in  a  semi-circle  Mdme.  la  Duchesse 
de  Conde,  the  Princess  de  Conti,  and  all  the  ladies,  and 
behind  them  again  were  some  men.  At  the  right 
window  was  the  King,  standing,  and  a  little  in  the  rear 
a  semi-circle  of  the  most  distinguished  men  in  France. 
The  King  was  nearly  always  uncovered,  and  every  now 
and  then  stooped  to  speak  to  Mdme.  de  Maintenon, 
and  explain  to  her  what  she  saw,  and  the  reason  of 
each  movement  of  the  troops.  Each  time  that  he  did 
so  she  was  obhging  enough  to  open  the  window  four  or 
five  inches,  but  never  half-way.  Sometimes  she  opened 
the  glasses  of  her  own  accord  to  ask  questions  of  him, 
but  generally  it  was  he,  who  without  waiting  for  her, 
stooped  down  to  explain  to  her  what  was  passing  ; 
and  sometimes  if  she  did  not  notice  him,  he  tapped  at 
the  glass  to  make  her  open  it.  He  never  spoke,  save 
to  her,  except  to  give  a  few  brief  orders,  or  just  answered 
the  Duchess  of  Burgundy,  who  wanted  to  make  him 
speak  to  her,  and  with  whom  Mdme.  de  Maintenon 
carried  on  a  conversation  by  signs,  without  opening  the 
front  window,  through  which  the  young  Princess 
screamed  a  few  words  at  her  now  and  then.  The  faces 
of  the  bystanders  showed  embarrassed  surprise,  they 
watched  this  scene  more  than  what  was  going  on  in 
the  army.  The  King  often  put  his  hat  on  the  top  of 
the  chair  in  order  to  get  his  head  in  to  speak.  About 
the  time  when  the  town  capitulated  Mdme.  de  Maintenon 
apparently  asked  permission  to  go  away,  for  the  King 
called  out :  '  The  chairmen  of  Madame  !  '  They  came 
and  took  her  away  ;  in  less  than  a  quarter  of  an  hour 
afterwards  the  King  retired  also.  Many  spoke  with 
their  eyes  or  nudged  one  another  or  whispered  to- 
gether. Everybody  was  full  of  what  had  taken  place 
on  the  ramparts  between  the  King  and  Mdme.  de 
Maintenon.  Even  the  soldiers  asked  the  meaning  of 
that  sedan  chair  and  of  the  King's  every  moment 
stooping  to  put  his  head  inside  it.  What  effect  this 
had  on  foreigners  who  were  present  may  be  imagined. 


1 68 


MADAME  DE  MAINTENON 


All  over  Europe  it  was  as  much  talked  of  as  the  pomp 
and  prodigious  splendour  of  the  camp  of  Compiegne." 

That  Mdme.  de  Main  tenon  loved  Louis  we  do  not  think. 
To  her  he  was  always  "  The  King,"  to  whom  absolute  de- 
votion was  due  and  was  given.  She  was  probably  flattered 
by  his  preference,  and  grateful  for  the  elevation  to  which 
he  had  raised  her,  but  she  could  not  have  genuinely  loved 
him,  or  she  would  not  have  complained  so  frequently 
of  the  monotony  and  burden  of  her  Hfe  at  his  side.^  Her 
letters  are  full  of  such  complaints,  and  one  day  she  said 
to  her  brother  :  ''I  cannot  stand  it  any  longer  ;  I  would 
rather  be  dead." 

Comte  d'Aubigne  rephed  :  *'  Vous  avez  done  parole 
d'epouser  Dieu  le  pere  ?  " 

One  day,  looking  at  some  goldfish  that  were  restless 
and  ill  at  ease  in  their  marble  tank,  she  said  :  "  They  are 
like  me,  longing  to  get  back  to  their  mud." 

In  a  remarkable  letter  to  Mdme.  de  Glapion  she  describes 
her  long  weary  days  at  Versailles  : — 

"  I  am  obliged  to  take  for  prayers  and  the  Mass  the 
time  when  other  people  are  still  asleep.  For  when  my 
door  is  once  opened  I  have  not  an  instant  to  myself. 

*'  M.  Marechal,  First  Physician  to  the  King,  arrives 
at  7.30,  then  M.  Fagon  (another  medical  attendant) 
or  someone  else,  to  inquire  how  I  am.  Afterwards 
comes  M.  de  Chamillard  (War  Minister)  or  some  other 
Minister  ;  the  Archbishop;;  a  Marshal  of  France  to  take 
leave ;  a  relation,  a  quantity  of  other  people  who  come 
in  a  string  and  who  never  leave  till  someone  of  higher 
rank  arrives.  At  last  comes  the  King.  They  are  all 
obliged  to  go  out,  and  he  stays  with  me  till  it  is  time 
for  Mass.      Remark  that  my  hair  is  not  yet  dressed. 

»She  said  that  after  the  marriage  her  happiness  only  lasted  three 
weeks. 


COURT  LIFE  FROM  THE  INSIDE        169 

For  if  that  had  been  done  I  should  have  had  no  time 
for   prayer.     The    King   returns    after   havmg   heard 
Mass  •    then  come  the  Duchess  of  Burgundy  and  her 
ladies     They  remain  while  I  dine.     I  am  not  without 
anxiety  as  to  whether  the  Duchess  will  not  say  some- 
thing out  of  place.     I  must  not  fail  to  address  a  few 
obheiner  words  to  all  present.     As  I  undertook  to  bring 
up  the  Duchess   I   feel  responsible  for   all   she  does 
wrong    and   for   all  the  good  she   does  not   do.  ^It 
an  indiscretion  escapes  her,  I  share  the  pain  of  those 
whose  feelings  she  has  wounded.     In  fact,  my  mmd  is 
at  an  extreme  tension.     The  circle  of  visitors  surrounds 
me   and  I  cannot  even  ask  a  servant  for  something  to 
drink  :   I  sometimes  say  :   '  You  do  me  much^  honour, 
but  I  should  prefer  the  services  of  a  lacquey.'     There- 
upon each  one  hastens  to  serve  me,  and  those  who  are 
refused  are  vexed.     This  is  another  sort  of  torment 
for  me.     At  last  they  all  depart  to  dine,  and  I  should 
be  free  at  that  time  were  it  not  that  Monseigneur^ 
generally  then  comes  to  visit  me  ;    for  he  often  dines 
earher  than  the  others  in  order  to  go  out  hunting.     He 
is  very  diflicult  to  entertain,  being  easily  bored  and 
saying  very  httle  himself,  so  I  have  to  bear  the  brunt 
^  of  the  conversation  and  talk  for  two. 

"  As  soon  as  the  King's  dinner  is  over  he  comes  into 
my  room  with  the  whole  Royal  Family,  Princes  and 
Princesses,  and  amuses  himself  there  for  half  an  hour. 
Then  he  leaves,  alone  ;  the  rest  remain,  and  I  have  to 
take  part  in  trifling  conversation  while  my  mmd  is  full 
of  anxiety  as  to  what  is  going  on  in  the  army  where  so 
many  of  my  friends  and  those  who  are  attached  to  the 
King  are  endangering  their  lives.  Add  to  this  a 
quantity  of  bad  news,  which  is  a  heavy  burden  on  my 
mind.  My  eyes  must  be  serene  while  they  are  ready 
to  fill  with  tears.  When  this  assembly  separates,  some 
lady  or  other  has  always  something  private  to  say,  and 
follows  me  into  my  little  room  to  pour  out  her  troubles. 
They  expect  me  to  take  as  much  interest  in  them  as  in 

1  The  young  Princesses  and  the  Court  ladies  vied  with  each  other  in 
waiting  on  Mdme.  de  Maintenon,  handing  dishes,  etc. 
*  The  Dauphin. 


/ 


I/O 


MADAME  DE  MAINTENON 


the  affairs  of  State.  Those  who  do  not  Hke  me  make 
me  their  confidante  as  well  as  those  who  Hke  me.  They 
want  me  to  do  them  some  service,  and  to  speak  of  their 
private  affairs  to  a  King  who  is  almost  overwhehned 
with  the  affairs  of  State.  The  whole  Com-t  resort  to 
this  old  lady  !  When  I  think  of  my  position  it  is  not 
what  is  brilliant  but  what  is  painful  that  presents  itself. 
Instead  of  being  dazzled  I  only  think  of  myself  as  an 
instrument  of  which  God  deigns  to  make  use  to  do  some 
good,  to  unite  our  Princes,  to  succour  the  afflicted,  to 
refresh  the  King  .ifter  the  cares  of  the  State. 

"  But  to  return  to  our  day.  When  the  King  comes 
back  from  hunting,  he  comes  to  me.  The  door  is  shut, 
and  no  one  is  allowed  to  enter,  I  then  have  to  share  his 
private  sorrows  and  troubles  which  are  not  few. 

"  Later  a  Minister  arrives  hastening  to  impart  news 
which  is  often  bad.  The  King  listens  attentively  and 
then  sets  to  work.  If  my  presence  is  not  required 
(which  does  not  often  happen),  I  retire  and  write  or 
pray.  While  I  sup  the  King  is  still  at  work,  I  am  dis- 
quieted whether  he  is  alone  or  not.  I  have  been  under 
constraint  from  six  in  the  morning,  and  am  very  tired, 
sometimes  the  King  perceives  this  and  says  :  *  You 
cannot  stay  up  any  longer  Madame,  is  it  not  so  ?  Go 
to  bed.' 

"  My  women  come,  but  I  feel  they  annoy  the  King 
who  wants  to  talk  to  me,  but  will  not  talk  in  their 
presence.  So  I  undress  hastily,  often  to  my  incon- 
venience, and  at  last,  behold  me  in  bed  !  I  send  away 
niy  maids.  The  King  approaches  and  sits  by  my 
pillow  till  he  goes  to  supper.  But  a  quarter  of  an  hour 
before  supper  the  Dauphin  and  the  Duke  and  Duchess 
of  Burgundy  enter.  About  a  quarter-past  ten  every- 
one goes  out.  Then  I  am  alone  and  at  ease,  but  often 
too  tired  to  sleep.  Now  tell  me  if  the  lot  of  a  peasant's 
wife  is  not  preferable  to  mine  ?  I  have  to  attend  to 
many  things  which  our  Princes  neglect.  For  example, 
the  Princesse  des  Ursins  is  about  to  return  to  Spain  ; 
if  I  don't  occupy  myself  with  her  and  make  up  to  her 
by  my  attentions  for  the  coldness  of  the  Duchess  of 
Burgundy,  the  indifference  of  the  King,  and  the  dry- 


COURT  LIFE  FROM  THE  INSIDE         171 

ness  of  the  other  Princes,  she  will  leave  disgusted  with 
our  Court ;  and  it  is  desirable  that  she  should  speak 
well  of  us  in  Spain.  The  Duchess  of  Burgundy  bnngs 
me  all  her  troubles.  She  came  last  night  just  as  I  was 
going  to  bed  worn  out  with  fatigue.  She  threw  herself 
upon  me,  and  kept  me  a  long  time  listening  to  her 
troubles.  I  had  to  remain  half  undressed  to  listen  to 
her  because  if  I  had  gone  to  bed  she  could  not  have 
spoken  freely,  the  table  at  which  the  King  works  being 
close  to  my  bed.  She  said  she  hoped  she  was  not  in- 
conveniencing me— but  though  she  always  asks  me  to 
treat  her  as  a  mother  would  her  child,  I  cannot  forget 
what  is  due  to  her  and  send  her  away  unceremoniously, 
— so  you  see  my  life  is  no  bed  of  roses."      , 

Mdme.  de  Maintenon  is  not  the  only  person  who  com- 
plains of  the  weariness  of  Court  Life.  A  young  lady  at  the 
Enghsh  Court  who  had  been  a  great  favourite,  was  asked 
why  the  King  no  longer  took  notice  of  her,  repHed  : 
*'  I  am  no  longer  amusing,  the  deadly  monotony  of  Court 
Life  has  flattened  me  out." 

At  a  later  date  we  hear  the  same  strain  from  the 
Duchesse  de  Montpensier,  Louis  Philippe's  daughter-in- 
law.  When  the  Revolution  compelled  the  French  Royal 
Family  to  fly  in  different  directions,  the  Duchess,  escorted 
by  General  Thierry  and  M.  Estancelein  set  out  for 
Brussels.  On  reaching  Abbeville  they  were  told  the 
carriage  would  be  stopped  if  they  tried  to  pass  through 
the  town,  so  it  was  decided  that  M.  de  Estancelein  should 
get  fresh  horses  and  bring  the  carriage  to  the  outskirts 
of  the  city  on  the  road  to  Brussels,  while  the  Duchess 
and  General  Thierry  should  go  on  foot  by  a  circuitous 
road  to  meet  him.  It  was  pitch  dark,  sleet  was  falling, 
the  Princess's  shoe  stuck  in  the  mud  and  she  had  to  go 
on  without  it.    While  sitting  on  a  plank  near  some  un- 


/ 


i 


172 


MADAME  DE  MAINTENON 


finished  buildings  waiting  for  the  carriage  to  rejoin  them, 
the  General  condoled  with  the  Duchesse  de  Montpensier— 
who  was  in  dehcate  health — over  the  discomforts  she  was 
undergoing.  This  young  Princess  rephed  :  "  I  hke  these 
adventures  better  than  the  monotony  of  sitting  doing 
embroidery  at  the  round  table,  in  the  sumptuous  apart- 
ments at  the  Tuileries." 

Mdme.  de  Maintenon  never  scrupled  to  speak  of  what 
she  considered  the  boredom  of  Court  Life,  and  delighted 
to  escape  from  it  whenever  she  could.  The  following 
letter  addressed  to  Mdme.  de  Glapion  at  St  Cyr,  shows 
that  she  found  the  company  of  peasants  refreshing  by 
contrast.  It  is  dated  Fontainebleau,  September  lo, 
1711 : — 

"  I  have  just  returned  from  Avon,  an  adjoining 
village.  I  intended  to  spend  an  hour  there,  but  spent 
three.  Since  I  came  to  Court  I  have  never  had  such 
delicious  company  as  these  peasants  ;  their  simpHcity 
and  shrewdness  is  a  feast.  I  went  from  house  to  house. 
Mathieu  Roche,  the  schoolmaster,  cannot  accustom 
himself  to  my  ignorance,  and  I  cannot  accustom  myself 
to  his  knowledge.  I  cannot  do  without  the  villagers 
of  Avon.  I  find  among  them  honesty,  good  sense, 
truth,  and  honour.  They  do  not  talk  as  well  as  we  do, 
but  we  do  not  act  as  weU  as  they  do.  I  could  tell  you 
some  fine  instances,  but  perhaps  they  would  bore  you. 
Yesterday  I  received  a  letter  from  one  of  my  farmers, 
saying  he  had  fears  for  my  health  and  that  of  the  King, 
on  account  of  the  prevalent  mortality  amoner  beasts  !  " 
(cattle).  ^ 


CHAPTER  XVI 


COURT  PERSONAGES 


ST  SIMON  describes  a  day  m  the  King's  Hfe,  and 
a  courtier's  Hfe  was  a  faint  reflection  of  the 
King's.     From  the  moment  he  opened  his  eyes 
in  the  morning  the  King  was  always  on  parade. 
His  toilet  took  place  in  the  presence  of  a  large  audience. 
One  favoiured  courtier  would  hold  the  candlestick,  another 
the  towel,  while  to  hand  the  shirt  was  a  privilege  reserved 
for  Princes  of  the  Blood.     This  took  place  at  eight  o'clock  ; 
at  a  quarter-past  the  Grand  Chamberlain,   and   those 
gentlemen  who  had  the  privilege  of  first  entry,  came  in 
and  remained  a  few  minutes ;    then  those  of  the  second 
entry  presented  themselves,  and  a  few  minutes  later  the 
rest  of  the  courtiers.     As  soon  as  the  King  was  dressed, 
he  said  his  prayers — kneehng  at  his  bedside — and  then 
went  to  his  private  room  to  issue  the  orders  of  the  day, 
and  give  short  private  audiences.    Then  the  Captain  of 
the  Guard  threw  open  the  folding  doors  and  Louis  walked 
along  the  gallery  that  led  to  the  chapel,  bowing  right 
and  left  to  the  double  line  of  courtiers  through  the  midst 
of  whom  he  passed.     Mass  was  then  celebrated.     When 
it  was  over  the  King  returned  to  his  private  room,  and 
the  Ministers  followed  with  their  portfoHos.    On  four 
mornings  a  week  he  held  a  Cabinet  Council.     Dinner  was 
served  at  one  o'clock.     Except  when  he  was  with  the 
army,  no  man  under  the  rank  of  a  Prince  of  the  Blood 

«73 


i 


174 


MADAME  DE  MAINTENON 


COURT  PERSONAGES 


175 


ever  dined  with  the  King.  When  he  dined  the  courtiers 
remained  standing  behind  his  chair — and  even  his  brother 
was  only  occasionally  honoured  with  a  seat  at  table. 
When  dinner  was  over  the  King  re-entered  his  Cabinet, 
fed  his  dogs,  changed  his  dress  (again  in  public),  and  then 
went  down  by  the  private  stairs  to  the  Marble  Court 
where  his  coach  was  waiting.  He  would  drive  a  four-in- 
hand  through  the  forest  at  Fontainbleau — hunt — or  shoot 
in  the  park.  As  he  grew  older  his  exercises  generally 
took  the  form  of  a  promenade  round  the  gardens,  where 
he  would  feed  the  carp,  watch  the  fountains  play,  or 
chat  with  his  gardener  Le  Notre,  and  his  courtiers  had  to 
follow  him,  often  for  four  or  five  hours,  hat  in  hand,  up 
and  down  the  long  terraces. 

After  taking  exercise  the  King  would  retire  to  Mdme. 
de  Maintenon's  apartments.  At  a  quarter-past  ten  he 
had  supper  with  the  Princes  and  Princesses,  and  then 
spent  an  hour  in  his  room  with  his  children.  In  the 
evenings  the  King  often  played  cards  or  hstened  to  music. 
One  long  gallery  and  adjoining  magnificent  suite  of  rooms 
was  lighted  up  with  countless  chandehers.  The  laced 
ruffles,  silken  coats  and  gold  embroidery  worn  by  courtiers, 
and  the  ladies*  dresses  sparkling  with,  pearls  and  jewels, 
and  adorned  with  flowers,  formed  a  coup  d'oeil  of  imsur- 
passed  splendour.  Sometimes  the  King  supped  with 
Mdme.  de  Maintenon,  and  then  the  young  Princesses 
woidd  wait  upon  her,  handing  the  dishes  and  changing 
the  plates. 

In  the  King's  younger  days,  balls  and  masquerades  and 
ballets  had  been  frequent,  but  after  his  marriage  to 
Mdme.  de  Maintenon,  the  King  did  not  often  appear  at 
them. 


Human  nature  needs  relief  from  constraint  and  we  heair 
of  many  practical  jokes,  of  a  very  rough  nature,  taking 
place  among  the  courtiers,  and  of  the  Princesses  borrowing 
pipes  and  tobacco  from  the  Swiss  Guard  and  holding  a 
sort  of  orgie,  after  the  King  had  retired  for  the  night. 

Mdme.  de  Maintenon  found  the  manners  of  the  rising  ^ 
generation  little  to  her  taste.  She  comments  on  them 
much  as  an  early  Victorian  great  lady  might  comment  on 
the  doings  of  the  smart  set  at  the  end  of  the  nineteenth 
century.  Writing  to  the  Princesse  des  Ursins,  who  was 
absent  in  Spain,  she  says  : — 

"  I  own  to  you,  Madame,  that  the  women  of  these 
days  are  intolerable  to  me  ;  their  senseless  and  im- 
modest clothing,  their  tobacco,  their  wine,  their  gluttony, 
their  laziness,  and  coarse  conversation,  all  that  is  so 
opposed  to  my  taste,  I  cannot  endure  it.'* 

In  Mdme.  de  Maintenon's  time  Louis'  habit  was  to  go 
every  week  to  Marly— arriving  there  on  Wednesday, 
leaving  it  on  Saturday,  and  spending  Sunday  at  Versailles. 
Versailles  cost  about  24,000,000  francs,  and  could  accom- 
modate ten  thousand  persons.  Immense  sums  were  also 
spent  between  1679  and  1690  on  Marly. 

1  The  very  extensive  garden  rose  by  an  imperceptible 
ascent  up  to  the  Pavilion  of  the  Sun,  which  was  occupied 
only  by  the  King  and  his  family,  the  pavilions  of  the 
twelve  zodiacal  signs  bounded  the  two  sides  of  the  lawns. 
They  were  connected  by  elegant  bowers  impervious  to  the 
rays  of  the  sun.  The  pavihons  nearest  to  the  Pavilion 
of  the  Sun  were  reserved  for  the  Princes  of  the  Blood  and 
the  Ministers,  the  rest  were  occupied  by  persons  holding 
superior  offices  at  Court,  or  by  invited  visitors.    Each 

1  This  description  is  given  in  Mdme.  Campan's  "  Memoirs." 


r 


r 


1/6 


MADAME  DE  MAINTENON 


pavilion  was  named  after  fresco  paintings,  which  covered 
its  walls  and  which  were  executed  by  the  most  celebrated 
artists  of  the  age  of  Louis  XIV.  Upon  a  line  with  the 
upper  paviHon  was  the  chapel,  on  the  right  a  long  suite 
of  offices  containing  a  hundred  rooms  for  persons  belonging 
to  the  service  of  the  household  and  kitchen,  and  spacious 
dining-rooms  where  thirty  tables  were  splendidly  laid  out. 
All  the  lady  guests  found  in  their  apartments  a  complete 
toilette,  designed  by  the  King,  and  called  "  Costume  de 
Marly."  Every  visitor  could  give  repasts  in  their  apart- 
ments, being  served  with  the  same  dehcacies  as  the 
master.  No  luxury  or  convenience  was  wanting.  At 
Marly  the  ladies  of  the  Court  always  had  supper  at  the 
Royal  table.  Invitations  to  "  the  Marlys  "  were  as  much 
prized  as  an  invitation  to  a  "  week-end  "  at  Sandringham 
may  be  at  the  present  day. 

After  the  marriage  of  Mdlle.  de  Nantes  with  M.  le  Due 
de  Bourbon,  the  King  entertained  the  Court  with  great 
magnificence.  Four  stalls  representing  the  four  seasons 
were  erected  in  the  Salon  at  Marly,  and  fitted  with  the 
richest  and  choicest  specimens  of  the  industry  of  Parisian 
artificers,  and  the  guests  drew  lots  for  these  articles.  Thus 
all  the  Court  received  munificent  presents  from  the  King. 
Mdme.  de  Maintenon  and  the  Due  du  Maine  presided  at 
one  stall,  Mdme.  la  Duchesse  (the  bride)  at  another,  with 
Mdme.  de  Chevreuse.  Monseigneur  had  one  with  the 
bride's  aunt,  Mdme.  de  Thianges,  and  the  bridegroom 
another  lady  (some  accounts  say  Mdme.  de  Montespan). 

Amongst  Court  ladies  Louise-Fran^oise  de  Bourbon, 
known  as  Mdlle.  de  Nantes,  Mdme.  de  Maintenon's  old 
pupil,  sister  to  the  Duchesse  d'Orleans,  was  an  important 
personage.     Her  father's  favourite,  she  was  married  at  the 


COURT  PERSONAGES 


177 


age  of  seventeen  to  a  Prince  of  the  Blood,  Louis,  third 
Duke  of  Bourbon-Conde.  She  is  described  ^  as  "  a  Queen 
of  pleasure  and  delight ;  with  a  figure  formed  for  the 
tenderest  loves  ;  with  all  the  charms  and  all  the  dangers 
of  the  Sirens  of  the  poets.  Known  to  love  no  one,  yet 
irresistible  even  to  those  who  hated  her ;  with  all  her 
attractions  cruel  and  heartless,  a  faithless  friend,  and  a 
relentless  enemy."  Such  was  *'  Mdme.  la  Duchesse," 
as  she  was  always  called,  the  lady  who  domineered  over 
"  Monseigneur,"  the  Dauphin,  and  reigned  over  the 
society  at  Meudon,  and  who  inspired  a  lifelong  and  hopeless 
passion  in  the  breast  of  her  husband's  cousin,  the  cele- 
brated Prince  de  Conti. 

She  did  not  like  her  old  gouvemante,  and  always  spoke 
of  her  as  "  Queen  Maintenon." 

Mdme.  de  Montespan's  sons  by  the  King,  the  Due  du 
Maine,  and  Comte  de  Toulouse  are  acknowledged  to  have 
been  men  of  more  talent  and  capacity  than  Louis  XIV.'s 
legitimate  descendants.  The  Comte  de  Toulouse  became 
an  Admiral  of  France,  and  did  good  service  at  the  time 
of  the  Spanish  War.  The  Regent  d'Orleans  had  a  very 
high  opinion  of  him. 

When  the  Due  du  Maine  was  a  child,  Mdme.  de  Maintenon 
reproached  him  for  giving  himself  haughty  airs,  and  said  : 
"  Look  at  the  King.     He  is  affable  and  polite  to  all." 

"  That  is  very  easy  for  him,"  replied  the  child  ;  "  he  is 
sure  of  his  rank,  but  I  am  ignorant  of  mine."  Sensitive 
and  precocious  he  had  already  reflected  on  the  ambiguous 
position  to  which  his  birth  relegated  him  ;  though  in  after 
Hfe  his  father  loaded  him  with  honours,  there  always 
remained  a  strain  of  melancholy  and  detachment  in  his 

1  By  St  Simon. 
L 


•178 


MADAME  DE  MAINTENON 


COURT  PERSONAGES 


179 


4 


'•* 


\ 


character,    which    the    overbearing,    self-asserting    dis- 
position of  his  wife,  Mdlle.  de  Cond^,  did  nothing  to  modify. 

The  worid  said  :  "  The  Due  du  Maine  hides  great 
abihties  and  many  fine  quahties  under  an  air  of  detach- 
ment and  indifference." 

Mdme.  de  Maintenon  said  :  "  He  is  too  virtuous  to 
become  famous." 

The  half-brother  of  the  Due  du  Maine  and  of  the  Comte 
de  Toulouse,  the  Marquis.  d'Antin,  Mdme.  de  Montespan's 
only  child  by  her  husband,  was  considered  the  most 
perfect  specimen  of  a  courtier.  Gifted  with  a  fine  presence 
and  charming  manners,  possessed  of  learning,  talent  and 
wit,  he  was  a  great  favourite  with  the  King,  and  acceptable 
te  all  parties  at  Court  ;  above  all,  he  had  the  greatest  of 
social  virtues  :  "  never  did  he  by  any  chance  speak  evil 
of  anyone."  Although  his  mother  had  been  supplanted 
by  Mdme.  de  Maintenon  he  bore  the  latter  no  grudge, 
but  took  great  trouble  to  ingratiate  himself  with  her. 
When  she  and  the  King  visited  him  at  Petit-Bourg,  she 
found  her  boudoir  arranged  as  an  exact  dupHcate,  of  her 
own  room  at  Versailles  ;  the  same  pictures,  the  same 
flowers,  and  even  the  same  books. 

D'Antin  was  almost  unknown  to  his  father,  the 
Marquis  de  Montespan.  But  when  a  mistaken  re- 
port of  the  death  of  his  father  reached  Paris,  Mdme. 
de  Montespan  and  D'Antin  put  on  mourning  and 
had  a  solemn  funeral  ceremony  performed.  After  the 
mistake  was  known,  the  King  told  D'Antin  to  go  to 
Montespan  and  explain  matters.  D'Antin  found  out 
how  to  please  his  father,  and  gave  such  an  amusing 
account  of  the  funeral  catafalque,  placing  the  matter  in 
such  a  ludicrous  light  that  M.  de  Montespan  was  com- 


pletely disarmed,  and  consented  to  alter  his  will,  which 
referred  to  the  King  and  Mdme.  de  Montespan  in  objec- 
tionable terms,  and  the  premature  publication  of  which 
had  originated  the  report  of  his  death. 

It  seems  that  there  were  some  very  ugly  people  at 
Court.  The  Duke  of  Burgundy  is  described  as  of  small 
stature  and  sickly  appearance,  with  an  ill-looking  mouth 
and  a  humped  back. 

Of  the  Duke  of  Bourbon  it  was  said  : — 

"  It  is  impossible  that  he  can  inspire  any  woman  with 
affection ;  he  is  thin  as  a  lathe  with  legs  like  a  crane  ; 
his  body  is  bent  and  short ;  his  eyes  are  so  red  that  it  is 
impossible  to  distinguish  the  good  from  the  bad  one 
which  was  accidentally  struck  out ;  his  chin  is  so  large 
that  one  would  not  suppose  it  belonged  to  his  face  ; 
his  lips  are  uncommonly  thick." 

The  Comte  de  Soissons  had  a  long  hooked  nose,  and  eyes 
close  to  it.  He  was  as  yellow  as  saffron.  His  mouth  was 
very  small  and  full  of  decayed  teeth  ;  his  feet  turned  in- 
ward, which  made  him  look  like  a  parrot  when  walking. 
The  Dowager-Duchesse  d'Orleans,  describing  the  lover  of 
her  granddaughter  the  Duchesse  de  Berri,  says  : — 

"  I  cannot  conceive  what  there  is  to  love  in  him. 
He  looks  with  his  yellow-green  complexion  like  a 
water-fiend  ;  his  mouth,  eyes  and  nose  are  like  those  of 
a  Chinaman ;  he  is  in  short  a  very  ugly  rogue." 

The  Due  de  Vendome  was  very  slovenly.  He  married 
in  17 10.  Tales  were  told  of  his  immense  astonishment 
at  having  to  put  on  two  clean  shirts  in  one  day,  and  his 
embarrassment  at  finding  lace  on  the  one  given  him  to 
wear  at  night. 

Absent-mindedness  was  also  a  peculiarity  from  which 


\i 


i8o  MADAME  DE  MAINTENON 

many  courtiers  appeared  to  suffer.  M.  de  Brancas.  the 
Queen's  Lord-in-Waiting.  one  day  at  church  forgot  that 
the  Queen  was  kneeUng  before  him;  her  head  could 
hardly  be  seen  when  she  was  kneeling  down  for  she  was 
round-shouldered.  He  took  her  for  a  prie-dieu,  and  knelt 
down,  putting  his  elbows  on  her  shoulders.  This  same 
gentleman  forgot  in  the  evening  that  he  had  been  married 
in  the  morning,  and  went  out  to  sleep,  forgetting  his 

bride. 

The  Due  de  Grammont,  while  listening  to  a  sermon  of 
Bourdaloue's  in  the  Chapel  Royal,  forgot  where  he  was, 
and  cried  out :  "  S'death,  he  has  the  best  of  it !  " 

Madame  laughed,  the  preacher  stopped,  no  one  knew 
what  would  happen  next. 

The  Duchesse  d'Orleans  relates  the  following  anecdote 
of  her  Lady-in-Waiting  :  — 

"  When  I  wanted  my  head-dress  to  go  to  Court  in, 
she  took  oif  her  gloves  and  threw  them  in  my  face  at 
the  same  time  gravely  putting  my  head-dress  on  her 
own  head." 

The  three  Countesses,  as  Mdme.  de  Caylus,  de  Mailly 
and  de  Momay  were  called,  were  very  prominent  person- 
ages. 

Mdme.  de  MaiUy  had  been  MdUe.  de  St  Hermme, 
daughter  of  Magdalen  de  ViUette.  Her  husband,  the 
Comte  de  Mailly,  was  a  "  Menin  "  ^  of  the  Dauphin,  and 
she  herself  was  Lady-m-Waiting  to  the  Duchess  of  Bur- 
gundy and  afterwards  to  Queen  Marie  Leczinska,  wife  of 
Louis  XV.,  but  she  never  made  her  fortune  and  died 
poor. 

I  Menin  means  favourite  or  companion.  It  was  the  title  by  which 
young  gentlemen  attached  to  the  Dauphin's  household  were  known. 


COURT  PERSONAGES 


i8i 


Mdme.  de  Momay  was  Fran9oise  de  Coetquen  Combourg. 
Her  husband  was  aide-de-camp  to  the  Dauphin  and  was 
killed  at  the  siege* of  Mannheim,  1688. 

Mdme.  de  Maintenon,  having  observed  that  these 
ladies  sent  their  lackeys  when  it  was  raining  hard  to  the 
outskuts  of  Versailles,  and  on  their  return  at  once  sent 
them  off  again,  having  forgotten  to  give  all  the  commissions 
at  one  time,  wrote  the  following  lines  at  their  expense  :— 

"  Malheureux  sont  les  lacquais 
De  nos  trois  jeunes  Comtesses  ; 
Heureux  qui  ne  sert  jamais 
De  si  ficheuses  maitresses." 

All  the  Royal  Family  eventually  acknowledged  Mdme. 
de  Maintenon  to  be  a  true  friend. 

The  following  letter  was  written  by  "  Monseigneur  "  (the 
Dauphin)  to  her  from  the  camp  at  Ruenne,  i6th  September 
1690 : — 

"This  morning  the  King  showed  me  that  part  of 
your  letter  which  refers  to  him.  I  should  be  very 
sorry  for  you  to  put  yourself  out  on  my  account.  I 
beg  you  to  consider  me  one  of  your  most  attached 
friends.  Your  letter  gave  me  great  pleasure  because 
it  shows  that  the  King  is  pleased  with  me.  If  I  do 
anything  that  may  displease  him,  you  would  do  me  a 
kindness  by  warning  me  frankly,  in  order  that  I  may 
try  to  avoid  it.  Nothing  can  change  the  sentiments 
which  you  know  I  entertain  for  you. 

"  (Signed)  Louis." 

Even  "  Madame "  (the  Dowager-Duchesse  d'Orleans) 
was  brought  round.  Some  letters  in  which  she  had  used 
offensive  epithets  concerning  Mdme.  de  Maintenon  fell 
into  her  hands,  and  the  King  gave  her  a  severe  reprimand. 
When  she  denied  having  written  them,  Mdme.  de  Maintenon 


V 


i82  MADAME  DE  MAINTENON 

produced  the  letters,  which  were  undeniably  hers. 
**  Madame  "  was  covered  with  confusion,  and  for  a  long 
time  the  King  treated  her  with  great  coldness,  but  even- 
tually was  persuaded  by  Mdme.  de  Maintenon  to  forget  it. 
After  this  the  Dowager-Duchesse  d'Orl^ans,  who  in 
her  correspondence  with  relatives  speaks  of  Mdme.  de 
Maintenon  with  many  opprobrious  epithets,  wrote  to  her 
as  follows  : — 

"  The  Queen  Dowager  of  Spain  is  the  cause  of  my 
being  obhged  to  trouble  you  again  in  asking  the  King 
to  read  my  letter  to  see  if  His  Majesty  approves  of  my 
reply.  Pray  have  the  kindness  to  let  me  know  if  the 
King  thmks  I  ought  to  omit  or  add  anything.  I  must 
also  tell  you,  Madame,  how  delighted  I  am  with  an- 
other favour  done  me  by  the  King  in  allowing  me  to  see 
him  in  his  private  apartments  before  supper  yesterday, 
and  the  day  before.  I  owe  all  this  to  you,  who  have 
put  me  on  good  terms  with  the  King,  and  as  gratitude 
to  yourself  increases  with  every  act  of  kindness  he 
shows  me,  I  assure  you,  Madame,  that  my  affection 
for  you  will  soon  equal  the  esteem  which  is  your  due. 

"  (Signed)        Elizabeth  Charlotte." 

On  another  occasion  she  wrote  : — 

"To  obtain  what  I  want  I  always  address  myself 
to  you,  Madame,  and  I  find  this  succeeds  so  well  that 
I  intend  always  to  pursue  the  same  course.  I  reserve 
to  myself  the  pleasure  of  teUing  you  in  person  how 
deeply  touched  I  am  by  the  proofs  of  your  goodwill 
towards  me,  and  no  one  desires  more  than  I  do  to 
merit  them.        (Signed)      Elizabeth  Charlotte." 

Mdme.  de  Maintenon  had  used  her  influence  to  avert 
the  King's  displeasure  when  the  Due  d'Orleans  ^  lost  the 
battle  of  Turin.     He  wrote  her  the  following  letter  :— 

1 "  Madame's  "  son,  and  afterwards  Regent. 


COURT  PERSONAGES 


183 


"  There  is  no  grief  that  could  not  be  lessened  by  your 
condolences.     After  the  kindness  shown  me  by  the  King 
Td  the  assurances  you  give  me  that  Jelmg^of  f^^^^^^^ 
<;hiD  as  well  as  compassion  actuated  hun,  1  shouia  De 
foolish  if  I  were  still  dispirited.    Your  letter  makes 
kno^  to  me  m  a  most  chafing  manner  all  that  I  owe 
to  the  King  ;  and  though  you  try  to  con^^^l  ^^f  ^^^^^ 
ceive  how  much  I  owe  to  yourself,  ^^^  particular^ 
when   you   recaU   to   my   recollection   thej\jll   that 
governs  the  Universe,  and  tell  me  to  d^cry  m  great 
f vints  the  over-ruling  of  Providence.    When  I  can  teU 
you  without  hypocrisy  that  I  am  devout,  I  shaU  joyfuUy 
acquaint   you  with   the   fact.     Those   who   are   truly 
devout  are  so  sincere  and  so  generous  that  a  man  ol 
honour  is  more  disposed  than  others  to  become  so 

"  Continue  to  be  a  friend  to  me.  Madame,  I  am 
deeply  touched  by  your  kindness,  and  think  myselt 
fortunate  to  participate  in  it,  and  there  is  nothmg  that 

I  would  not  do  to  preserve  it  n.^^.T^.^Q  " 

"  (Signed)        Phillippe  D  Orleans. 

Mdme.  de  Sevigne  gives  an  amusing  account  of  a  great 
Court  ceremony  at  Versailles-an  Investiture  of  Blue 
Ribbons  : — 

"  They  began  on  the  Friday  :    the  firet  took  their 
oaths  with  Court  dresses  and  collars  on^   Two  Marshals 
of  France  stayed  over  for  Saturday.     Marshal  de  BeUe- 
fonds  was  perfectly  ridiculous,  partly  fm  modesty 
partly  from  indifference.     He  had  neglected    to  put 
bows  at  the  knees  of  his  page's  costume,  so  that  it  had 
an  air  of  veritable  bareness.      The  whole  troop  were 
magnificent,  M.  de  la  Trousse  among  the  best      but 
there  was  a  tangle  in  his  wig  which  obliged  him  to  push 
what  ought  to  have  been  at  the  side,  far  away  behind 
so  that  his  cheek  was  all  uncovered.    He  was  always 
puUing  at  that  which  embarrassed  him  and  which  would 
not  come,  and  this  caused  him  no  little  vexation.     But 
along  the  same  Une,  M.  de  Montchevreuil  and  M    de 
VUlars    became    hopelessly    entangled-theu:    swords, 
ribbons,  laces,  tinsel  trimmings  were  all  mixed,  con- 


1 84 


MADAME  DE  MAINTENON 


fused,  jumbled  ;  all  the  little  crooked  atoms  so  perfectly 
interlaced,  that  no  human  hand  could  separate  them ; 
the  more  people  tried,  the  more  they  seemed  to  en- 
tangle them.  At  last  the  whole  ceremony,  all  their 
salutations,  and  the  whole  performance  coming  to  a 
standstill,  it  was  necessary  to  separate  the  two  by  main 
force,  and  the  stronger  carried  the  day.  But  that 
which  entirely  disconcerted  the  gravity  of  the  ceremony 
was  good  M.  d'Hocquincourt's  negligence.  He  is  so 
accustomed  to  be  dressed  like  the  Provencals  that  his 
page's  breeches  being  less  commodious  than  those  he 
is  accustomed  to  wear,  his  shirt  would  not  remain  in 
place,  however  much  he  wished  it  to  do  so.  Knowing 
his  condition,  he  tried  constantly  to  put  order  in  it, 
but  always  in  vain,  so  that  Mdme.  la  Dauphine  could 
no  longer  repress  her  laughter.  It  was  deplorable  ! 
The  Majesty  of  the  King  itself  was  nearly  shaken,  and 
never  in  the  previous  history  of  the  Order  had  such  a 
scene  been  heard  of." 


CHAPTER  XVII 

MDME.    DE   MAINTENON'S   RELATIONS 


N   speaking   of  Court   life,   Mdme.   de   Maintenon 
said  : — 


I"  I  am  like  one  who  is  behind  the  scenes  at  a 
theatre,  seeing  only  the  machinery  and  all  that 
is  disagreeable.  People  who  see  the  Court  from 
the  outside  are  enchanted.  Underneath  the  outside 
brilliance  I  see  passions  of  aU  sorts,  hatred,  mean- 
nesses,  unreasonable  ambitions,  envy,  treachery,  all  tor 
trifles  and  smoke." 

She  was  surrounded  by  a  crowd  of  beggars.  The 
Courtiers,  Dukes,  Duchesses,  Counts  and  Countesses, 
Marshals,  Generals,  Bishops,  all  had  an  axe  to  grind. 
It  was  one  long  cry  of  give,  give,  give,  either  places  or 
money.  In  those  days  people  of  good  birth  who  were 
impoverished  could  not  dig,  but  to  beg  they  were  not 
ashamed.    All  appealed  to  Mdme.  de  Maintenon. 

In  the  voluminous  correspondence  that  remains,  the 
letters  addressed  to  Mdme.  de  Maintenon  aU  con- 
tain some  request,  and  her  replies  are  always  on  this 
subject.  No  clergyman's  wife  or  district  visitor  could 
ever  be  more  harassed  to  obtain  money  for  charities  than 
her  letters  show  her  to  have  been— only  the  recipients 
were  mostly  people  of  title,  instead  of  the  class  known  as 
"the  poor."  Everyone,  from  the  Princes  downwards, 
applied  to  Mdme.  de  Maintenon. 

'^^  i8s 


i86 


MADAME  DE  MAINTENON 


Y 


The  King  told  her  she  would  make  a  good  Grand- 
Almoner.  She  gave  away  quite  three  parts  of  her  income 
in  pensions  to  distressed  persons. 

Her  letters  show  that  she  did  all  she  could  to  help 
those  who  begged  for  her  assistance,  and  how  anxious 
she  was  to  stretch  the  funds  at  her  disposal  to  the  utmost 
limits,  to  do  the  utmost  good  possible,  and  help  the  most 
deserving  of  the  innumerable  petitioners.  How  she  was 
rewarded  some  passages  of  her  letters  show. 

To  the  Superior  of  Gomerfontain  she  writes,  1707  : — 

"  No  happiness  for  you  if  you  expect  gratitude  from 
mankind ;  you  will  not  get  it,  and  God  destines  another 
sort  of  reward  for  you.  When  you  complain  of  the  in- 
gratitude jf  your  pupils,  is  it  because  you  work  only 
for  them  ?  Work  for  God,  and  you  will  become  in- 
diiferent  to  the  opinion  of  your  protegees.  Who  is 
there  who  is  not  the  subject  of  calumny  ?  Have  you 
never  heard  the  King  or  Minister  blamed  ?  If  I  could 
show  you  all  that  people  write  to  me  about  myself ! 

"  You  will  never  be  either  holy  or  happy  if  you 
depend  on  mankind.  They  will  always  fail  you  ;  and 
if  they  do  not  you  will  have  had  your  reward  in  this 
world.  Alas !  One  is  daily  deceived  in  friends  of 
twenty  years*  standing." 

The  only  beggars  that  Madme.  de  Maintenon  ever 
refused  were  some  very  importunate  distant  relatives 
of  her  own.    To  one  such  she  writes  :■ — 

"  I  have  done  all  that  I  reasonably  could  to  put  my 
relatives  in  comfortable  and  decent  positions,  or  given 
them  the  opportunity  of  attaining  such  a  condition, 
and  thought  to  be  rid  of  their  requests.  But  now  I 
find  it  necessary  to  declare  that  I  will  ask  for  nothing 
for  any  of  them.  Let  them  do  as  they  will  have  to 
when   I  am  dead ;    let  them  address  themselves  to 


MDME.  DE  MAINTENON'S  RELATIONS   187 

Ministers,  or  use  the  influence  of  other  friends.  I  have 
many  connections  who  think  I  ought  to  marry  aU  theu: 
daughters,  find  employment  for  the  sons;  and  the 
gentlemen  apply  for  every  vacant  post. 

*'  Consider  for  a  moment  what  would  be  my  position 
if  I  asked  the  King  every  day  for  benefits  for  my 
relatives.  If  he  granted  my  requests  he  would  have 
nothing  left  for  anyone  else  ;  if  he  refused  he  would 
grieve  me  and  to  do  this  would  vex  him.  I  should 
become  the  annoyance  of  his  fife  instead  of  its  pleasure. 
I  have  told  you  my  final  decision  and  request  you  to 
make  it  known  to  aU  our  relatives.  I  shaU  have  greater 
pleasure  in  meeting  you  all,  if  I  have  not  m  future  to 
dread  your  petitions." 

Mdme.  de  Maintenon's  brother,  the  Comte  d'Aubigne 
resembled  his  sister  in  having  a  fine  face  and  figure.  He 
also  had  wit,  but  his  mind  was  iU-regulated.  His  tastes 
were  superficial,  and  he  unfortunately  inherited  his 
father's  love  of  luxury,  his  extravagance,  ostentation, 
and  fondness  for  gambling. 

The  King  took  his  measure,  liked,  but  did  not  esteem 
him,  though  he  bestowed  on  him,  unasked,  a  Governorship 
and  a  pension  of  ninety-six  thousand  francs.  Had  it  not 
been  for  his  love  of  play  and  ostentation,  d'Aubign^ 
would  have  been  well  off.  His  sister  refused  to  ask  for 
him  what  she  had  always  avoided  asking  for  herself, 
and  could  not  be  induced  to  use  her  influence  to  obtain 

honours  for  him. 

He  had  the  Blue  Ribbon  to  which  he  was  entitled  by 
birth  ;  but  he  wanted  to  be  a  Duke  and  a  Marshal.  Mdme. 
de  Maintenon  wrote  : — 

"  Why  do  you  persecute  a  sister  who  loves  you  ? 
I  could  not  make  you  Constable  if  I  would ;  and  if  I 
could  I  would  not.  You  have  had  all  that  is  reasonable, 
and  I  will  ask  nothing  from  him  to  whom  we  owe  all. 


1^^  !ll 


i88 


MADAME  DE  MAINTENON 


You  will  complain  perhaps  of  these  sentiments  ;  with- 
out them  I  should  probably  not  be  where  I  am.*' 

Writing  from  Paris,  3rd  January  1664,  she  says  : — 

*'  I  much  regret,  my  dear  brother,  that  this  year  I 
have  nothing  to  give  you  but  good  wishes.  I  have 
not  yet  paid  off  my  own  debts,  which  is  the  first  use  I 
ought  to  make  of  my  pension  ;  and  you  would  hate  a 
New  Year's  gift  made  at  the  expense  of  my  creditors. 
With  a  little  economy  you  would  be  able  to  live  at  your 
ease.  Your  dissipation  grieves  me.  Abandon  pleasures 
which  cost  a  hundred  times  more  than  the  necessaries 
of  life.  Be  careful  in  the  choice  of  your  friends.  Your 
fortune  and  your  salvation  equally  depend  on  the  first 
steps  you  take  in  the  world.  Attend  to  your  duties. 
Love  God.  Be  an  honest  man.  Have  patience  and 
you  will  want  for  nothing.  Adieu,  my  dear  brother. 
I  shall  not  be  happy  unless  you  are  ;  and  you  will 
not  be  happy  unless  you  are  prudent." 

Other  letters  are  in  the  same  tone. 

"  It  is  our  own  fault  if  we  are  unhappy.  This  will 
always  be  my  text,  and  my  reply  to  your  lamentations. 
Remember  the  misfortunes  of  our  childhood  and  youth, 
and  you  will  bless  Providence  instead  of  murmuring. 
Ten  years  ago  our  condition  was  very  different  to  what 
it  is  now.  We  had  so  little  hope  of  good  fortune  that 
we  limited  our  wishes  to  an  income  of  three  thousand 
francs.  At  present  we  have  four  times  as  much,  and 
are  not  satisfied  !  If  prosperity  comes  to  us,  let  us 
receive  it  from  the  hands  of  God  ;  but  do  not  let  us 
have  too  extensive  views.  We  have  all  that  is  necessary 
for  comfort,  to  desire  more  would  be  cupidity.  All 
these  desires  of  grandeur  come  from  the  emptiness  of  a 
restless  heart.  All  your  debts  are  paid,  and  you  can  live 
pleasantly  without  contracting  more.  Read  the  hfe  of 
St  Louis ;  you  will  see  that  all  the  splendours  of  this 
world  cannot  satisfy  the  heart  of  men.  It  is  only  God 
that  can  do  so.  Your  ambitious  projects  will  cost  you 
the  loss  of  your  peace  of  mind  and  your  health.    You 


MDME.  DE  MAINTENON'S  RELATIONS   189 

will  not  think  well,  unless  you  feel  well ;  when  the  body 
is  feeble,  the  mind  is  without  vigour.  You  ought  to 
take  care  of  your  health,  if  it  is  only  because  I  love 
you." 

28th  February  1678. 

"  Regulate  your  expenses.  It  is  our  vanity  that 
increases  our  wants.  Nature  only  gives  us  such  as  are 
easy  to  satisfy.  A  good  bed,  a  plentiful  table  an 
equipage.  What  do  you  want  more!  You  have 
already  excited  the  murmurs  of  the  envious.  Put 
them  in  the  wrong  by  renouncing  the  expenses  that 
have  made  you  so  few  friends  and  the  grand  airs  that 
have  drawn  down  ridicule  on  us  both.  Who  have 
made  most  jests  at  your  expense?  Those  to  whom 
you  have  given  the  most  magnificent  repasts  ? 

All  Mdme.  de  Maintenon's  advice  did  not  succeed  in 
curing  her  brother  of  his  foUies,  his  bourgeois  magnificence, 
his  affectation  of  the  airs  of  a  man  of  importance.  He 
would  play  away  in  one  night  a  year's  income.  One 
evening  when  he  was  playing  at  faro,  and  staking  pieces 
of  gold  without  counting  them,  the  Mar6chal  Vivonne, 
Mdme.  de  Montespan's  brother,  entered.  He  remarked  : 
"  Only  d'Aubigne  can  afford  such  high  stakes." 
"  Because  I  have  had  my  baton  in  money,"  ^  repUed 

d'Aubigne. 
La  Bruy^re  describes  Comte  d'Aubign6 : — 

"  His  coat  was  richly  embroidered  with  gold,  his 
sword  hilt  was  of  onyx  ;  on  his  finger  he  wore  a  ring 
with  a  large  diamond  that  dazzled  the  eyes  ;  he  was 
not  wanting  in  any  of  those  curious  trifles  that  people 
wear   through   custom  or   vanity.    One   might   say: 

1  Intimating  that  the  Due  de  Vivonne  owed  his  baton  to  his  sister's, 
Mdme.  de  Montespan's  favour,  which  was  not  the  case.  Baton: 
Marechal's  staff. 


i.i'it 


I90 


MADAME  DE  MAINTENON 


'  Give  me  the  clothes  and  the  jewels,  the  wearer  does 
not  matter.' 

"  At  Court  he  arrives  with  ostentation,  scatters  the 
bystanders,  makes  everyone  give  place,  has  himself 
announced.  One  breathes  again  1  He  has  to  wait  and 
enter  with  the  crowd.     One  pities  him  !  " 

The  debts  and  indiscretions  of  her  brother  were  a 
constant  annoyance  to  Mdme.  de  Maintenon.  If  she 
happened  to  make  a  confidential  remark  to  him,  his 
voluble  tongue  repeated  it  in  twenty  houses,  and  she  was 
at  last  reduced  to  having  no  direct  communication  wi:h 
him,  and  to  have  him  kept  at  a  distance  from  Paris,  ai  d 
a  priest  was  appointed  to  be  a  sort  of  companion  and  i ) 
keep  him  in  order.  Under  the  influence  of  this  good  ard 
clever  man,  d'Aubigne  sobered  down,  lived  more  quietly 
in  his  latter  years,  and  died  what  was  called  "  a  good 
death."  When  this  news  was  brought  to  Mdme.  de 
Maintenon,  she  said,  "  I  always  loved  my  brother,  but 
this  is,  alas  !  the  first  time  I  have  ever  heard  anything 
about  him  that  has  given  me  satisfaction.** 

Mdme.  de  Maintenon  had  several  times  tried  to  arrange 
a  marriage  for  her  brother  ;  but  he  shilly-shaUied  to  such 
an  extent  that  on  each  occasion  the  negotiations  fell 
through,  and  finally  he  married  suddenly,  without  in- 
forming his  sister  of  his  intentions,  a  Mdlle.  Pietre, 
daughter  of  the  Procureur  du  Roi,  who  had  neither 
birth,  beauty,  nor  wit  to  compensate  for  her  lack  of 
fortime. 

Mdme.  de  Maintenon  treated  her  with  the  greatest 
kindness,  and  presented  her  at  Court,  where  she  was 
overcome  with  bashfulness,  and  her  gaucherie  caused 
Mdme.  de  Maintenon  some  annoyance.  She  also  had 
her  head  turned  by  the  connection,  and  Mdme.  de  Main- 


MDME.  DE  MAINTENON'S  RELATIONS   191 

tenon  soon  remarked  on  her  extravagant  tastes.     She 
writes  to  her  brother  : — 

"  I  send  you  a  memorandum  of  all  that  I  have  spent 
on  behalf  of  Mdme.  d'Aubigne  in  fifteen  months,  not 
in  order  that  you  may  feel  obliged  to  repay  me,  but  to 
show  you  that  two  thousand  crowns  soon  went.  She 
is  well  drcfssed.  I  have  never  had,  nor  ever  shall  have, 
such  fine  clothes,  although  I  live  at  the  Court.  As  to 
your  cravats,  which  you  ask  me  to  order  for  you,  the 
King  has  none  with  such  costly  lace  as  you  desire. 
Give  your  wife  a  yearly  sum  for  her  dress,  it  is  the  only 
way  to  prevent  extravagance.  I  should  say  a  thousand 
francs  would  suffice,  had  it  not  been  that  I  have  seen 
her  spend  that  amount  in  four  days.  When  I  advised 
her  to  get  plain  robes-de-chambre  for  the  summer,  she 
said,  *  What !  no  gold  or  silver  on  them  !  '  Who 
would  beheve  that  she  had  not  always  been  covered 
with  it — and  yesterday  she  had  never  even  seen  such 
robes  !  She  would  need  a  longer  stay  here  to  fit  her 
for  good  society.  She  speaks  through  her  nose,  laughs 
without  reason,  and  puts  on  affected  airs  that  are  very 
ill-bred.  She  appears  gentle,  her  faults  are  only  those 
of  education.  Take  ad^.-antage  of  her  being  removed 
from  her  family  to  improve  her  manners.  I  write  this 
because  I  love  you,  and  have  your  interests  at  heart. 
I  must  now  conclude.  There  are  twenty  people,  three 
children,  and  ten  dogs  in  my  room.'* 

To  her  sister-in-law  she  wrote  at  a  later  date,  3rd 
January  1681. 

"  I  pray  to  God  every  day  to  guide  you  into  His  holy 
paths.  I  make  these  prayers  while  living  at  Court, 
where  it  is  only  necessary  to  be  in  order  to  hate  the 
world  and  its  pleasures.  Here  I  have  learned  by  ex- 
perience that  God  alone  can  satisfy  the  soul  of  man. 
Beheve  me,  my  dear  child,  the  things  you  imagine 
delightful,  and  which  perhaps  you  envy  me,  are  only 
vanity  and  affliction  of  spirit.     The  Court  is  like  one 


^i 


192 


MADAME  DE  MAINTENON 


of  those  views  that  should  be  seen  at  a  distance. 
I  cannot  place  you  there,  and  if  I  could,  I  would 
not.  Love  your  husband  and  God,  and  you  will  be 
happy." 

The  following  letter  was  written  to  Comte  d'Aubigne 
on  the  birth  of  his  only  child,  5th  May  1684  :— 

"  I  congratulate  you  on  the  happy  accouchement  of 
my  sister-in-law.  I  already  feel  a  tenderness  for  my 
niece.  Tell  the  nurse  to  take  great  care  of  my  heiress. 
We  are  getting  old  :  let  us  think  of  death.  Is  it  a 
misfortune  when  one  is  a  Christian  ?  " 

To  this  child  the  name  of  Amable  was  given.  When 
old  enough  her  aunt  placed  her  at  St  Cyr,  and  one  letter 
is  extant  in  which  Amable  d'Aubigne  is  censured  for  the 
airs  she  gave  herself  on  account  of  the  relationship. 
Mdme.  de  Maintenon  writes  : — 

"  Chantilly,  11th  May  1693. 

"  I  should  be  much  to  blame  if  I  did  not  speak  as 
plainly  to  you  as  to  the  other  pupils  at  St  Cyr.     You 
will  be  insupportable  if  you  do  not  become  hiunble. 
Do  you  think  yourself  a  person  of  importance  because 
you  are  brought  up  in  a  house  which  the  King  visits 
daily  ?     The  day  after  his  death  neither  his  successor 
nor  those  who  now  pet  you  will  trouble  their  heads 
about  you  or  St  Cyr.     If  the  King  dies  before  you  are 
married,  your  husband  will  probably  be  a  country 
gentleman  of  small  property.      If  during  my  hfe  you 
marry  a  nobleman,  when  I  am  gone  he  will  only  esteem 
you  if  you  please  him  ;  and  this  you  will  not  do  without 
gentleness  ;   and  at  present  you  are  neither  gentle  nor 
amiable.     Remember    that    it    is    only    your    aunt's 
fortune  that  has  raised  you  and  brought  you  into  notice. 
You  do  not  like  to  be  told  this.     I  was  shocked  at  the 
way  you  talked  the  other  day.    Do  not  flatter  yourself. 


MDME.  DE  MAINTENON'S  RELATIONS   193 

I  am  not  much  and  you  are  nothing.  You  have  sense, 
endeavour  therefore  to  rid  yourself  of  this  presumption 
which  is  ridiculous  in  the  eyes  of  men,  and  culpable  in 
the  eyes  of  God.  Let  me  find  you  on  my  return  modest, 
gentle  and  docile.  You  know  how  I  love  you  and  how 
much  I  dislike  scolding  you.*' 

It  is  satisfactory  to  note  that  Mdlle.  d'Aubigne  profited 
by  her  aunt's  plain  speaking,  and  won  her  approbation. 
She  was  sought  in  marriage  by  the  Dues  de  Guise,  d'Estr^es, 
and  de  la  Rochefoucauld,  but  Mdme.  de  Maintenon 
decided  in  favour  of  another  suitor,  and  bestowed  her 
niece's  hand  on  Adrian  Maurice,  Comte  d'Ayen,  eldest 
son  of  the  Due  de  NoaiUes.  The  father  had  rendered 
great  services  to  the  Crown  and  stood  high  in  the  King's 
favour.  The  son  was  destined  to  render  even  more 
important  services.  His  uncle.  Cardinal  de  Noailles, 
Archbishop  of  Paris,  was  as  distinguished  for  piety  and 
virtue  as  the  great  Fenelon.  In  the  year  of  famine  he 
sold  everything  he  possessed,  even  to  his  library,  to 
obtain  means  to  reheve  his  flock.  Wealth,  pohteness, 
talents,  and  honour  had  always  distinguished  the  ancient 
house  of  Noailles. 

The  following  letter  to  the  Comtesse  de  St  G^ran  from 
Mdme.  de  Maintenon  relates  to  this  marriage  : — 

"  Versailles,  4th  March  1698. 

"  I  am  establishing  my  niece  ;  the  matter  is  settled  : 
so  make  haste  ;  I  must  have  your  congratulations. 
The  marriage  will  cost  my  brother  a  hundred  thousand 
francs,  me  my  estate,  the  King  eight  hundred  thousand 
francs.  The  Due  de  Noailles  is  to  give  his  son  an 
income  of  twenty  thousand  francs  and  to  assure  him 
double  that  amount  at  his  death.  The  King,  who 
never  does  things  by  halves,  has  promised  M.  d'Ayen 


'  , 


(  I 


V    t 


\ 


\- 


194  MADAME  DE  MAINTENON 

the  succession  to  his  father's  offices  and  government. 
Behold !  a  fine  alHance.  M.  de  NoaiUes  is  ready  to 
die  with  joy  :  his  son  is  clever  and  sensible  he  loves 
the  Kine  and  is  beloved  by  him  ;  he  fears  God  and  wiU 
obtain  His  blessings  ;  he  has  a  fine  recent,  loves  his 
profession,  and  wiU  distinguish  hmiself  in  it  Indeed, 
I  am  very  pleased  at  this  affair.  When  Mdlle. 
d'Aubien6  was  bom.  I  did  not  foresee  such  good  fortune 
for  her  She  has  been  well  brought  up,  she  has  more 
prudence  than  is  usual  at  her  age  ;  she  is  pious  ;  she 
is  rich-  do  you  think  M.  de  Noailles  is  making 
a  bad  'bargain  ?  I  think  both  parties  are  weU 
content." 

Mdme.  de  Maintenon  wrote  the  foUowing  letter 
to  the  Cardinal  de  Noailles,  uncle  of  her  niece's 
husband : — 

"  Our  young  people  will  have  eighty  thousand  francs 
of  income.  I  hope  they  will  make  good  use  of  it 
Remember  your  share  in  determining  my  choice,  and 
use  your  influence  that  some  of  this  money  be  given 
to  the  poor  and  to  good  works.  I  am  enchanted  to 
see  you  pleased  with  my  niece,  whom  you  must  call 
vour's  She  is  truly  modest ;  she  fears  God  and  respects 
his  Ministers.  I  hope  you  will  assist  in  preventmg  her 
bemg  spoilt  by  too  many  caresses  and  pleasures,  too 
much  consideration  and  magnificence ;  there  is  danger 
of  that." 

•  The  Comte  d'Ayen,  gentle,  agreeable,  and  inteUectual, 
also  a  brave  and  talented  soldier,  as  he  proved  in  the 
Spanish  War,  was  dearly  loved  by  Mdme.  de  Maintenon ; 
he  reciprocated  her  affection,  and  looked  upon  her  as  a 
second  mother,  while  honouring  her  as  the  wife  of  his 

sovereign.  . 

She  gave  this  nephew  her  entire  confidence.     Their 
correspondence,    still    in    existence,    proves    the    happy 


MDME.  DE  MAINTENON'S  RELATIONS   195 

unanimity  of  these  two  hearts,  and  no  son  could  have  been 
a  greater  source  of  happiness  to  Mdme.  de  Maintenon. 
The  King  gave  Amable  d*Aubign6  on  her  marriage  a 
dowry  of  eight  hundred  thousand  francs,  some  magnificent 
jewellery,  the  post  of  Dame  du  Palais,  and  a  pension  of 
six  thousand  francs  for  herself.  A  pension  of  the  same 
amount  was  bestowed  on  her  husband,  whose  father  also 
gave  him  a  good  income.  Mdme.  de  Maintenon  at  her 
death  left  her  estate  of  Maintenon  to  this  niece. 

The  children  of  this  marriage  were  great  pets  of  Mdme. 
de  Maintenon  and  of  the  Royal  Family.  In  one  letter 
she  thus  refers  to  them  : — 

"  Last  evening  nothing  was  talked  of  at  Court  but 
the  Mdlles.  de  Noailles ;  the  eldest  had  been  to  dinner 
at  Meudon  with  the  Duchess  of  Burgundy;  M.  le 
Dauphin  was  full  of  her  praises.  Mdlle.  d'Ayen  was 
pleased  to  visit  the  Due  de  Bretagne.i  He  took  her 
fan  and  tore  it  to  pieces  ;  Mdlle.  d'Ayen  on  seeing  this 
struck  him  a  blow  with  all  her  might ;  the  Prince 
retaliated  by  kicking  her.  Mdme.  de  Ventadour 
(governess  to  the  Duchess  of  Burgundy's  children) 
separated  them,  and  gave  Mdlle.  d'Ayen  another  fan 
Thus  ended  the  combat." 

Mdme.  de  Maintenon  wrote  the  following  letter  to  her 
niece's  husband,  Comte  d'Ayen,  afterwards  Due  de 
Noailles : — 

"A  Marly,  nth  September  1703. 

"  Madame  la  Comtesse  d'Ayen  bid  us  good-bye  yester- 
day. She  is  delighted  to  rejoin  you.  She  deserves 
that  you  should  turn  her  into  a  sensible  woman  She  is 
on  the  nght  path,  but  has  still  something  to  attain. 
1  am  delighted  to  see  her  worthy  of  you/* 

» The  Duchess  of  Burgundy's  little  son. 


It' 


<  V 


,96  MADAME  DE  MAINTENON 

She  wrote  the  foUowing  letter  when  he  had  become 
Due  de  NoaiUes  and  was  in  command  of  the  French 
troops  in  Spain,  i6th  July  1707  •— 

••  The  Duchesse  de  NoaiUes  passes  her  days  with  me 
and  her  evenings  with  her  father-in-law.  She  was  very 
well  received  by  the  King  and  the  Duchess  of  Burgundy 
Tt  Marly  She  passed  most  of  the  day  playmg  at  tric- 
trac ii  my  roon^  in  preference  to  going  mto  the  salon 
Madame,  your  mother,  has  told  me  several  tmies  that 
she  is  much  pleased  with  her. 

At  another  date,  September  1709,  she  writes  :— 

"  The  Duchesse  de  NoaiUes  leads  the  most  innocent 
hfe  possible ;  she  passes  her  time  m  her  rooms,  or  at 
St  C^ ;  she  works  and  sings,  and  seems  to  prefer  being 
alone  to  being  in  company." 

To  the  Cardinal  de  NoaiUes.  Mdme.   de   Maintenon 
wrote  in  1708  : — 

"  I  love  my  niece  enough  to  desire  only  her  salvation  : 
but  I  love  her  husband  much  nior^;.^^  everythmg 
must  be  done  to  preserve  her  for  him.  I  proposea 
her  staUg  at  the  CarmeUte  Convent  durmg  her 
tusbS  ibsence,  for  fear  of  her  committing  some 
Cnprudence,    and    I    cannot    always    have    her    with 

me. 

In   after   years   she    wrote:    "I   love   the   Duchesse 
de  NoaUles  more  than   I   have    ever    done,  or  hoped 

to       do."  r 

The  Duchesse  de  NoaiUes  seems  to  have  been  worthy  ot 
the  family  she  entered.  For  some  years  she  was  a  dis- 
tinguished ornament  of  the  Court,  and  then  at  an  age 
when  she  might  stiU  have  expected  admiration  and  a  hie 
of  worldly  success,  she  retired  to  her  husband's  estate 


MDME.  DE  MAINTENON'S  RELATIONS   igj 
and  devoted   herself  to  religious  duties  and  works  of 

charity. 
The  descendants  of  Mdme.  de  Maintenon's  niece  and 

her  husband  showed  the  greatest  heroism  at  the  time  of 
the  Revolution. 

The  old  Marechal  and  Marechale  Mouchy  de  NoaiUes 
were  guiUotined  on  the  same  day.  The  old  Marshal  said 
when  somebody  offered  to  help  him  up  the  steps  to  the 
scaffold  :  "At  seventeen  I  sprang  to  the  saddle  for  the 
King,  and  seventy  I  can  ascend  the  scaffold  for  my 

God." 

A  little  later  three  generations  of  de  Noailles  perished 

by  the  guUlotine  the  same  day.  The  old  Duchesse  de 
NoaUles,  her  daughter,  the  Duchesse  d'Ayen,  and  her 
grand-daughter  the  Viscomtesse  NoaUles,  whose  saintly 
conduct  in  the  prison  and  fearless  bearing  on  the  scaffold 
won  the  admiration  even  of  the  degraded  beings  who 
surrounded  her.  Others  of  the  family,  Mdme.  de 
Lafayette  and  her  sister  Mdme.  de  Montague  (who  before 
her  marriage  was  caUed  Mdlle.  de  Maintenon),  were  cele- 
brated for  their  heroism  and  charity  in  those  terrible 

times. 

The  Marquis  de  VUlette,  son  of  the  aunt  who  had 
protected  Mdme.  de  Maintenon  in  chUdhood,  was  a  dis- 
tmguished  naval  officer.  Great  efforts  were  made  to 
induce  him  to  renounce  Protestantism,  but  he  made  a 
stout  resistance,  though  he  knew  that  this  would  be  a  bar 
to  Court  favour  or  to  promotion  in  his  profession  ;  and 
in  fact  he  was  sent  off  on  a  long  voyage,  during  which 
he  seems  to  have  devoted  much  time  to  a  study  of  the 
question.  He  finaUy  convinced  himself  that  schism  was 
a  sin,  placed  his  abjuration  in  the  hands  of  his  Confessor, 


{\ 


If 


I 


198 


MADAME  DE  MAINTENON 


and  with  eight  hundred  others,  received  the  rite  of  Con- 
firmation from  the  Archbishop  of  Bethlehem  at  St  Cyr. 

When  the  King  expressed  his  pleasure  at  the  conversion, 
M.  de  Villette  repHed  that  this  was  the  first  time  in  his 
life  that  in  an  action  of  importance  he  had  not  been 
actuated  by  a  wish  to  please  His  Majesty. 

While  a  widower,  M.  de  Villette  fell  in  love  with  MdUe. 
de  Marsilly  (who  was  less  than  half  his  age),  when  he  saw 
her  performing  in  "  Esther  "  at  St  Cyr,  and  married  her. 
She  had  beauty  and  wit,  and  played  a  conspicuous  part 
in  the  society  of  the  eighteenth  century.  She  did  not 
scruple  to  reproach  Mdme.  de  Maintenon  in  unreserved 
terms  for  refusing  to  use  her  interest  to  obtain  riches 
and  favour  from  the  King  for  her  and  her  husband. 
After  the  Marquis  de  Villette 's  death,  his  widow  became 
the  second  wife  of  the  famous  Lord  Bolingbroke  of 
Queen  Anne's  reign. 

So  much  for  Mdme.  de  Maintenon's  relatives.  Among 
her  most  valued  friends  was  Queen  Mary  of  Modena, 
widow  of  James  II.  of  England,  and  was  very  fond  of  the 
son  and  daughter,  and  describes  in  a  letter  the  anxiety 
she  felt  when  the  Prince  and  Princess  fell  ill  of  smallpox, 
and  how,  when  doctors'  remedies  failed,  the  patients 
cured  themselves  by  drinking  beer  and  eating  bread  and 
cheese  !  This  Princess,  Henrietta  Stuart,  was  beautiful 
and  spirited  and  of  a  noble  character  ;  it  is  said  that  had 
she,  not  her  brother,  been  the  heir  to  the  Enghsh  Crown, 
the  fate  of  the  Stuart  Dynasty  would  have  been  a  different 
one. 

Mdme.  de  Maintenon  was  so  much  attached  to  the 
Stuarts  that,  in  old  age,  when  their  restoration  depended 
upon  the  success  of  the  French  army,  then  opposed  by 


MDME.  DE  MAINTENON'S  RELATIONS   199 

the  Prince  of  Orange  and  Marlborough's  forces,  she 
writes  in  1713  with  reference  to  the  Prince  of  Wales  :—  ^ 
"  I  know  nothing  but  his  restoration  that  would  give  me 
an  inchnation  to  live  till  it  takes  place." 

1  So  the  Pretender  was  called  in  France. 


FOUNDATION  OF  ST  CYR 


20I 


7^ 


CHAPTER  jXVIII 


FOUNDATION  OF  ST  CYR 


THOUGH  Mdme.  de  Maintenon  scrupulously 
avoided  seeking  advantages  or  riches  for 
herself  or  her  relatives,  yet  soon  after  her 
marriage  she  obtained  from  the  King  large 
revemjgs,  to  enable  her  to  carry  out  a  scheme  which  she 
had  long  had  at  heart :  the  foundation  of  an  institution 
to  provide  for  and  educate  the  orphan  daughters  of  the 
poor  nobility  and  of  military  officers  who  had  lost  their 
property  through  the  exigences  of  military  service,^ or 
otherwise.  Having  herself  experienced  the  trials  of 
well-bom  poverty,  Mdme.  de  Maintenon  could  sym- 
pathize with  those  in  like  circumstances,  and  she  had 
already  gathered  together  at  Rueil,  near  her  Chateau  of 
Maintenon,  a  few  well  bom  but  poor  girls,  to  whom  she 
was  giving  a  good  education  under  the  superintendence 
of  two  Canonesses,  Mesdames  de  Brinon  and  de  Basque. 

So  many  candidates  sohcited  admission  that  Mdme. 
de  Maintenon  felt  an  estabhshment  on  a  much  larger  scale 
was  needed ;  and  she  propounded  her  scheme  to  the 
King. 

At  first  he  was  rather  taken  aback  on  hearing  her  ex- 
tensive views  and  the  wide  scope  of  the  proposed  founda- 
tion, and  said  :  "No  Queen  of  France  has  ever  thought 
of  anything  like  this." 

But  Mdme.  de  Maintenon  persevered,  and  reminded  the 


King  that  he  had  resolved  to  reform  not  only  himself, 
but  his  whole  kmgdom  ;    that  the  education  in  religious ' 
and  moral  principles  of  the  future  wives  and  mothers  of 
the  rising  generation  would  do  much  to  influence  the  whole . . 
of  France. 

The  King  consulted  his  Minister  Louvois  as  to  the 
amount  of  money  that  would  be  necessary  for  the  main- 
tenance of  the  establishment.     It  was  decided  to  receive 
two  hundred  and  fifty  young  girls,  not  under  seven  or 
over  eleven  years  old  ;  they  were  to  remain  till  the  age 
of  twenty,  and  on  leaving  to  receive  one  million  crowns, 
as  dowry  if  they  married,  and  if  they  did  not  marry  to 
help  to  maintain  them  in  their  homes.     No  pupil  was  to  be 
admitted  who  could  not  prove  four  degrees  of  nobility 
on  the  patemal  side.     The  King  assigned  a  yearly  revenue 
of  three  hundred  thousand  livres  to  the  establishment, 
and  the  revenues  of  the  Abbey  of  St  Denis,  which  had 
hitherto  generally  been  bestowed  on  a  Royal  Prince,  were 
also  diverted  for  these  purposes.     No  sooner  was  the 
scheme  decided  on  than  the  King  showed  the  greatest 
interest  in  it.     He  bought  at  the  entrance  of  the  village 
of  St  Cyr,  close  to  Versailles,  a  large  chateau  belonging 
to  M.  Montbrisson,  pulled  it  down,  and  on  its  site  speedily 
erected  the  Royal  House  of  St  Cyr,i  whose  benefits  re- 
ceived the  profound  recognition  of  the  French  nobility, 
and  which  became  celebrated  throughout  Europe. 

A  year  after  the  marriage  of  Louis  XIV.  and  Mdme. 
de  Maintenon,  St  C}^:  was  ready  for  occupation,  and  a 
grand  opening  ceremony  was  held  at  which  two  hundred 

1  Mansard  was  the  architect,  2500  workmen  were  employed  almost 
night  and  day.  The  construction  cost  1,077,000  livres.  The  domain 
had  been  bought  for  131,000  livres. 


* 

1 


\ 


202 


MADAME  DE  MAINTENON 


FOUNDATION  OF  ST  CYR 


203 


and  fifty-six  young  ladies  sang  an  ode  in  praise  of  their 
benefactor,  and  all  the  great  people  in  France  were  present. 
The  King  by  Letters  Patent,  conferred  on  Mdme.  de 
Maintenon  the  rights,  distinctions,  and  prerogatives  of  a 
Foundress,  and  the  title  of  Perpetual  Superior  ;  there 
was  also  a  clause  which  provided  that  whenever  Mdme. 
de  Maintenon  wished  to  retire  there,  she  and  her  house- 
hold were  to  be  entertained  or  maintained  at  the  charges 
of  the  estabhshment. 

The  King  had  always  been  fond  of  children,  and  liked 
to  assist  at  their  performances  and  recreation.^  He  had 
a  magnificent  pavilion  erected  for  himself  in  the  central 
court  of  St  Cyr,  and  there  still  exist  some  notes,  which 
he  made  with  his  own  hand,  with  reference  to  the  char- 
acter of  the  management  of  the  estabhshment.  Mdme. 
de  Maintenon  herself  exercised  a  strict  supervision  over 
the  lives  of  the  pupils,  and  all  details  of  management, 
and  with  the  King's  assistance  revised  all  regulations. 
Her  happiest  hours  were  passed  at  St  Cyr.     She  wrote  : — 

"  Nothing  is  dearer  to  me  than  my  children  at  St  Cyr. 
I  love  the  whole  place,  even  the  dust  beneath  their 
feet." 

The  King  did  not  wish  St  Cyr  to  be  in  the  hands  of  nuns. 
"  I  have  plenty  of  convents  in  my  kingdom,*'  he  said, 
"  and  do  not  intend  to  establish  another.  Nuns,  being 
so  much  occupied  with  the  recital  of  offices,  have  not 
enough  time  to  give  to  their  pupils  ;  besides,  ladies  with 
a  knowledge  of  the  world  are,  I  venture  to  think,  better 
qualified  to  bring  up  young  ladies  destined  for  the  world." 

1  The  King  took  particular  notice  of  the  daughters  of  oflficers  who  had 
been  killed  in  the  wars,  and  used  to  speak  personally  to  them  and  try 
to  consol  them  by  promises  of  his  protection. 


An  imposing  costmne,  with  a  long  Court  mantle,  to  be  • 
worn  on  days  of  ceremony,  and  a  golden  cross  (such  as 
Bishops  wear),  was  approved  by  the  King  for  the  Ladies 
of  St  Cyr,  as  Mdme.  de  Brinon,  the  Directress  and  her 
assistants  were  called. 

When  Mdme.  de  Maintenon  was  deciding  on  the  costume 
to  be  worn  by  the  young  ladies  of  St  Cyr,  she  dressed  up 
Nanon  in  the  style  proposed,  and  brought  her  in  to  the 
King  that  he  might  express  his  opinion.  He  approved 
X>i  all  except  the  head-dress.  "  Quel  diable  de  petit 
bonnet  et  ^e  la  ?  "  he  said. 

A  few  days  later  Nanon  appeared  in  another  cap,  which 
met  with  the  King's  approval,  and  was  adopted. 

The  regime  was  ordered  with  the  view  of  fitting  the 
pupils  to  become  useful  members  of  society.  No  luxury 
was  allowed,  but  all  privations  were  forbidden.  The  beds  * 
were  hard ;  cold  water  was  used  at  all  seasons  for  the 
toilet,  except  for  the  very  small  girls  ;  fires  were  only 
allowed  when  the  need  was  great ;  no  expensive  dishes 
were  given,  but  plenty  of  good  food,  and  the  elder  girls 
might  have  as  much  as  they  pleased  ;  no  pears  cut  into 
quarters,  or  hash,  warmed  up  several  times,  appeared  at 
the  dinner  table  of  St  Cyr.  Above  all,  plenty  of  physical 
exercise,  to  make  the  body  strong  and  active,  was  in- 
sisted on  ;  as  to  dress,  the  under  petticoats  might  be 
patched,  but  the  over  dress  was  always  good  and 
warm. 

With  the  intention  of  fitting  them  to  be  good  mothers  f  ' 
and  good  mistresses  of  households,  the  elder  girls  had  to  / 
bathe,  dress,  and  do  the  hair  of  the  little  ones,  and  each 
had  an  allotted  task  either  at  the  infirmary  or  dispensary, 
the  hnen  cupboard,  dormitories,  or  refectory  ;  they  made 


204 


MADAME  DE  MAINTENON 


the  beds,  swept  and  dusted  rooms,  and  the  younger  ones 
were  employed  in  picking  fruit,  peehng  potatoes,  shelling 
peas,  etc.  To  work  with  hands  and  arms  was  the  common 
obhgation,  and  woe  betide  anyone  who  complained  of 
any  task,  or  of  being  too  hot  or  too  cold,  of  wind  or  dust, 
or  any  other  inevitable  discomfort.  They  were  taught 
all  kinds  of  needlework,  to  cut  out  and  make  clothing, 
to  dam,  knit,  and  embroider ;  but  elaborate  fancy  work 
was  not  allowed,  the  only  exception  being  the  em- 
broidery required  for  altar  cloths  and  Church  linen. 
With  regard  to  the  instruction  given,  the  pupils  were 
separated,  according  to  their  ages,  in  four  classes,  dis- 
tinguished by  the  colours  of  the  ribbons  attached  to  their 
uniform,  which  was  black. 

The  Red  Class  consisted  of  fifty-six  girls  above  ten 
years  old  ;  the  Green  Class  of  fifty-six  girls  aged  from 
eleven  to  thirteen  years  ;  the  Yellow  Class  sixty-five 
girls  from  fourteen  to  sixteen  years  old  ;  the  Blue  Class 
seventy-three  girls  from  seventeen  to  twenty  years  old. 
They  were  known  as  the  Reds  or  the  Blues,  etc.  Each 
class  was  divided  into  five  or  six  bands,  or  famihes,  of 
eight  or  ten  pupils,  grouped  according  to  their  progress  in 
study,  and  at  the  head  of  each  family  was  one  designated 
the  "  Mother,"  assisted  by  a  helper  or  understudy.  The 
Yellows  and  Blues  furnished  ten  monitors  for  the  Junior 
Classes,  and  their  insignia  was  a  flame-coloured  ribbon. 
Twenty  others  acted  as  Monitors  for  aU  classes,  and  wore 
a  black  ribbon. 

The  curriculum  of  instruction,  though  very  deficient 
in  the  eyes  of  the  twentieth  centiuy,  was  a  great  advance 
on  the  education  generally  given  to  young  ladies  in  the 
seventeenth  century,  when  it  was  thought  sufficient  for 


FOUNDATION  OF  ST  CYR  205 

them  to  kiiow  the  Catechism,  and  to  be  able  to  read  and 
write  and  keep  the  household  accounts. 

At  St  Cyr  the  principles  of  religion  were  considered  of  >> 
the  first  importance— then  came  domestic  economy- 
then  followed  the  three  R's— besides  which  the  following 
subjects  were  taught— Greek  and  Roman  history,  "  that 
they  might  learn  from  example  the  virtues  of  disinterested- 
ness and  patriotism  "  ;  the  history  of  France,  the  elements 
of  law  and  custom  ;  geography  and  dancing ;  and  for 
the  elders,  drawing,^  music  and  poetry  were  added.  They 
were  also  taught  the  art  of  conversation,  in  order  that 
they  might  not  be  at  a  loss  when  they  went  into  the 
world.  Mdme.  de  Maintenon  and  the  class  mistresses 
used  to  hold  conversation  classes  ;  a  subject  was  chosen 
and  each  pupil  was  required  to  express  her  opinion  or  to 
ask  questions  about  it,  so  that  they  might  acquire  the 
habit  of  expressing  themselves  easily. 

A  good  deal  of  attention  was  given  to  letter  writing. 
"  The  art  consists  of  expressing  briefly  and  clearly  what 
you  have  in  your  mind,"  was  Mdme.  de  Maintenon's 

advice. 

The  daily  routine  and  annual  programme  of  studies 
was  regulated  with  great  precision.  The  inmates  rose 
at  six  o'clock ;  were  occupied  in  household  work  till 
eight ;  then  heard  Mass,  and  afterwards  studied  till 
twelve  o'clock,  at  which  hour  dinner  was  served ;  after 
dinner  recreation  till  two  o'clock  ;  two  till  six  studies ; 
then  recreation,  supper,  and  to  bed  at  ten  o'clock. 

Mdme.  de  Maintenon    kept  them  well  supplied  with 


1  Madame  de  Maintenon  had  no  taste  for  music,  but  the  King  was 
devoted  to  it.  and  never  passed  a  day  without  hearing  some  perform- 
ance— and  by  his  orders  special  attention  was  given  to  it  at  St  Cyr. 


2o6 


MADAME  DE  MAINTENON 


FOUNDATION  OF  ST  CYR 


207 


games,  and  said :  "  Nowhere  do  I  see  more  gaietv  or  merrier 
children  than  at  St  Cyr."  She  cultivated  public  spirit 
among  them,  and  wished  them  to  know  of  and  take  an 
interest  in  all  great  events.  During  the  wars  of  the 
Spanish  Succession,  she  sent  them  bulletins  of  the  doings 
of  the  army  ;  prayers  were  offered  after  defeats  and 
victories  won  were  celebrated  in  a  festive  manner   at 

St  Cyr. 

The  King  said  :  "  I  like  the  Ladies  of  St  Cyr  ;  they  hate 
the  World,  but  love  the  State  ;  they  are  good  French- 
women." 

The  pupils  were  not  destined  for  the  Conventual 
Life  ;  in  ninety  years  only  three  hundred  and  ninety- 
eight  became  nuns,  out  of  one  thousand  one  hundred  and 
twenty-one  pupils.  "  There  are  plenty  of  nuns  in  France," 
said  Pere  de  la  Chaise,  "  but  not  enough  good  mothers." 
Religion  was  of  the  first  importance,  but  the  rehgious 
principles  to  be  instilled  were  such  as  would  lead  them 
to  do  their  duty  in  whatever  state  of  life  they  might  be 
called  to.  They  were  not  to  attend  too  many,  or  too  long. 
Church  services,  or  to  fast  or  practise  austerities.  Mdme. 
de  Maintenon  was  the  moving  spirit  at  St  Cyr,  and  she 
said  : — 

**  We  wish  to  inspire  them  with  a  piety  that  is  simple, 
solid,  cheerful,  and  free.  When  a  girl  will  miss  vespers 
to  visit  a  sick  person,  and  when  she  says  :  *  It  is  more 
pleasing  to  God  that  a  young  mother  should  attend  to 
her  ch3dren  or  keep  her  household  in  order,  than  to 
spend  the  morning  in  the  Oratory,'  people  will  respect 
her.  No  hair  shirt  is  so  valuable  an  aid  to  piety  as  a 
duty  well  fulfilled.  Refraining  from  silly  or  cutting 
remarks  is  better  than  fasting  ;  a  medicine  given  in 
the  dispensary  at  the  hour  of  duty  will  do  more  for 
the  soul  than  prayers,  if  the  duty  has  been  neglected 


to  pass  the  time  in  prayer.  The  Inner  Life  (hfe  of  the 
soul)  does  not  consist  only  in  prayer,  but  rather  in  ful- 
fiUing  the  duties  of  our  station  as  a  work  pleasing  to 
God.    We  can  find  God  everywhere." 

In  short,  the  watchword  of  St  Cyr  was  "  Duty." 
Desiring  that  the  religion  imbibed  there  should  be  practi- 
cal and  free  from  the  spiritual  abstractions  which  charac- 
terized the  piety  of  so  many  women  of  the  nineteenth 
century,  Mdme.  de  Maintenon  chose  as  Confessors  the 
Priests  of  St  Lazaire,  founded  by  St  Vincent  de  Paul— men 
of  humble  birth  and  rustic  manners,  learned  only  in  the 
things  of  the  Gospel.  Simple  men,  modest  and  retiring, 
who  far  from  desiring  Court  connections  refused  to  under- 
take the  work  until  the  King  expressed  his  wish  that  they 

should  do  so. 

When  the  revenues  of  the  Abbaye  of  St  Denis  were 
aUotted  to  the  Institute  of  St  Cyr,  Pope  Innocent 
XL  demanded  the  sum  of  one  hundred  and  eighty 
thousand  livres  which  it  was  the  custom  to  pay  to  him 
when  a  benefice  fell  vacant,  and  was  transferred.  Louis 
XIV.  refused  to  pay  this,  and  the  matter  remained  in 
dispute  tiU  Alexander  VIII.  became  Pope.  He  yielded 
the  exemption  demanded  by  Louis  on  account  of  the 
benefits  conferred  on  the  country  by  St  Cyr. 

The  Pope  notified  his  concession  in  a  Brief  addressed 
to  Mdme.  de  Maintenon  in  which  he  said  he  made  this 
concession  as  much  out  of  consideration  for  her,  and  on 
account  of  the  esteem  he  had  for  her,  as  out  of  a  wish 
to  contribute  to  the  great  benefit  which  the  piety  and 
liberality  of  the  Kmg  had  conferred  on  the  kingdom  of 
France  by  the  estabhshment  of  St  Cyr.  The  Pope  also 
added : — 


208 


MADAME  DE  MAINTENON 


"  We  depend  on  you  to  make  use  of  the  favour  you 
deservedly  enjoy  in  all  ranks  of  the  State  on  account 
of  your  rare  virtue  and  great  merits,  for  the  welfare 
of  our  Holy  Rehgion,  and  to  show  yoiu*  attachment 
to  the  Papal  Chair  on  all  occasions  that  may  present 
themselves.** 

The  King  came  in  person  to  commimicate  this  news  to 
the  Dames  de  St  Louis. 

Boileau  said  after  visiting  St  Cyr : — 

"  If  any  gentleman  should  venture  to  speak  with 
detraction  of  Madame  de  Maintenon,  his  name  ought  to 
be  erased  from  the  Roll  of  the  Nobihty,  so  base  would 
be  his  ingratitude  after  the  great  benefits  her  foundation 
has  conferred  on  his  class." 


CHAPTER   XIX 


ST  CYR  AND  ITS  STAFF 


IT  had  always  been  the  custom  in  f  rench  convents 
and  colleges  for  the  pupils  to  take  part  in  theatrical 
performances.  Madame  de  Maintenon  approved 
of  this  custom,  as  she  thought  it  improved  the 
memories  of  the  young  people,  gave  them  ease  of  manner, 
and  filled  their  minds  with  elevated  thought.  She  there- 
fore asked  Racine^  to  write, on  some  pious  or  moral  subject, 
a  species  of  poem  where  singing  could  alternate  with 
recitation,  and  both  be  united  to  acting,  that  would 
make  the  piece  hvely  and  interesting. 

After  much  thought  and  consultation,  Racine  chose 
''Esther"  for  his  subject.  His  habit  was  to  write  out 
the  plan  of  the  piece  in  prose.  He  read  out  each  scene 
as  he  wrote  it  to  Madame  de  Maintenon,  and  when  he 
brought  her  the  first  act  completed  she  was  delighted.  In 
the  story  she  may  perhaps  have  seen  a  flattering  parallel 
to  her  own  position.  The  King  was  generally  present  at 
these  readings  and  made  suggestions  which  Racine  some- 
times adopted. 

Nothing  was  talked  of  at  Court  but  the  coming  pro- 
duction, its  progress  was  discussed  like  that  of  a  campaign  ; 
there  was  a  general  desire  to  be  present  at  the  performance, 

*  Racine  had  written  nothing  for  the  theatre  during  the  previous 
twelve  years,  and  Madame  de  Maintenon  rendered  a  great  service  to 
French  hterature  in  persuading  him  to  take  up  his  pen  again. 

N  a<»9 


210  MADAME  DE  MAINTENON 

and  great  anxiety  to  know  who  were  to  be  favoured  with  an 
invitation.  Madame  de  Maintenon  went  to  great  expense 
for  the  costumes,  which  cost  14,000  francs,  though  the 
King  had  given  the  jewellery  from  the  costumes  he  had 
worn  in  his  youth,  when  he  used  to  take  part  in  plays  and 
ballets.  No  expense  was  spared  either  for  scenery  or 
properties,  which  included  a  throne  for  Ahasuerus. 

The  vestibule  and  dormitories  at  St  Cyr  were  divided 
into  two  parts :  one  to  serve  as  a  stage,  the  other  to  seat 
spectators.  Four  rows  of  seats  were  constructed,  one 
above  another  along  the  walls,  Hke  an  amphitheatre,  for 
the  girls.  The  Reds,  the  youngest,  were  on  the  top  row ; 
then  came  the  Greens,  underneath  them ;  then  the 
Yellows  ;  and  the  Blues  were  on  the  lowest  row.  Silk 
sashes,  neck  ribbons,  shoulder-knots  and  bows  for  the 
hair  of  the  colour  of  each  class  had  been  lavishly 
distributed  to  them,  and  they  made  a  gay  and  pretty 

appearance. 

A  smaller  amphitheatre  was  arranged  for  the  ladies  of 
St  Louis,  quite  near  the  stage,  and  between  the  two 
amphitheatres  there  was  a  space  with  an  arm-chair  for  the 
King  and  seats  for  the  Princes,  Princesses  and  such 
courtiers  as  were  honoured  with  invitations. 

The  St  Cyr  organist,  Nivers,  accompanied  the  singers 
on  the  clavecin  and  the  King's  private  band  formed  the 
orchestra.  The  assemblage  was  hghted  by  glass 
chandehers,  and  the  vestibule,  grand  hall  and  staircase 
were  also  well  hghted  by  candles. 

The  performance  began  at  three  o'clock  in  the  afternoon. 
The  King  was  accompanied  by  the  Bishops  of  Beauvais, 
Meaux  and  Chalons,  MM.  de  Beauvilliers,de  Noailles  and  de 
Brionne,  de  Louvois  and  de  Chevreuse,  and  attended  by 


} 


ST  CYR  AND  ITS  STAFF 


211 


the  Marquis  de  Dangeau  and  the  Marquis  de  Montchevrueil. 
Other  courtiers  and  Court  ladies  were  also  present. 

A  Hstof  the  invited  guests  had  been  given  to  the  portress, 
and  when  the  King  arrived  he  placed  himself  at  the  door 
inside,^  and  held  up  his  cane  till  all  had  entered  ;  then  he 
ordered  the  door  to  be  closed. 

On  this  occasion  Mademoiselle  de  Veilhant  played  the 
part  of  Esther ;  Mademoiselle  de  Maisonfort,  Elizabeth ; 
Mademoiselle  de  Lastic,  who  was  very  tall,  was  Ahasuerus  ; 
Mademoiselle  de  Glapion  was  Mordecai. 

The  performance  was  a  great  success.  Racine  expressed 
especial  admiration  for  the  performance  of  Mademoiselle 
de  Glapion,  whose  voice,  he  said,  touched  all  hearts. 
Mademoiselle  de  Mursay  (Madame  de  Caylus)  recited  the 
prologue  so  well  that  she  was  said  to  eclipse  the  celebrated 
Champmesl6.  M.  le  Prince  was  moved  to  tears  and  the 
King  applauded  frequently  and  talked  of  nothing  else  at 
supper.  It  was  agreed  that  Esther  was  Racine's  master- 
piece. 

**  Monsieur  "  and  all  the  princes  greatly  desired  to  see 
the  piece,  and  the  King  took  them  to  St  Cyr  for  the  second 
performance,  when  the  title  role  was  played  by 
Mademoiselle  de  Mursay.* 

An  invitation  to  be  present  at  a  performance  at 
St  Cyr  was  considered  the  greatest  of  favours,  and 
Ministers  of  State  left  the  most  important  business  to 
be  present.' 

One  of  the  most  brilliant  performances  was  the  fourth, 
which  took  place  on  5th  February  1689,  when  the  exiled 

*  The  ladies  of  St  Cyr  record  that  he  did  this  on  every  occasion  when  he 
was  present  at  the  performances. 

*  Better  known  by  her  married  name,  Madame  de  Caylus. 
■  Madame  la  Fayette — see  her  Memoirs. 


212  MADAME  DE  MAINTENON 

*  King  and  Queen  of  England  were  present.^  The  [King  of 
I  France  received  them  with  much  ceremony,  showed  them 
'  over  the  buildings,  and  explained  the  object  of  the  institu- 
tion, and  then  escorted  them  to  take  their  places  to  witness 
the  play.  Three  arm-chairs  had  been  placed  in  the  centre, 
and  the  Queen  of  England  sat  in  the  middle  one,  with 
her  husband  on  her  right  hand,  and  Louis  XIV.  on  her 

left. 

Madame  de  Maintenon  was  seated  on  a  stool  just  behmd 

the  King,  it  is  said  in  order  to  be  able  to  give  conveniently 
any  explanations  that  might  be  desired.  Almost  all  the 
Royal  Princes  and  Princesses  were  also  present,  besides  a 
fine  army  of  courtiers  and  Court  ladies.  Madame  de 
S^vign^  had  to  wait  a  long  time  for  an  invitation.  Writing 
to  her  daughter,  she  said  :— 

"  L'Abbe  Testu  has  mentioned  my  name  to  Madame 
de  Maintenon  for  an  invitation  to  see  Esther.  She 
responded  most  graciously— I  am  to  go  on  Fnday  or 
Saturday  and  Madame  de  Chaulnes  has  promised  to 
lend  me  her  coach." 

It  was  on  Saturday  the  19th  February  that  Madame 
de  S^vign^  went,  and  she  wrote  the  foUowing  account  of 
this  great  occasion  to  her  daughter  : — 

"Madame  de  Coulanges,  Madame  de  Bagnol  and 
r  Abbe  Testu  accompanied  me.  An  officer  told  Madame 
de  Coiilanges  that  for  her  Madame  de  Mamtenon  had 
reserved  a  seat  near  her  own.  '  You,  Madame  he  said 
to  me,  '  may  choose  your  seat.'  So  I  placed  myselt 
with  Madame  de  Bagnol  in  the  second  row,  behind  the 
Duchesses.  Le  Marechal  de  Bellefonds  came  and  sat 
beside  me.  We  Ustened  to  the  performance  with  the 
deepest  attention.     The  play  is  not  an  easy  one  to 

1  James  II.  and  Mary  of  Modena. 


ST  CYR  AND  ITS  STAFF 


213 


represent,  but  the  performance  left  nothing  to  be  desired. 
It  is  sublime  and  touching,  simple  and  innocent.  The 
young  ladies  who  played  the  parts  of  the  King  and  other 
male  personages  seemed  to  have  been  created  expressly 
for  such  parts.  When  the  play  was  over  M.  de 
Bellefonds  went  to  tell  the  King  how  delighted  we  both 
were,  and  the  King  came  to  my  seat  and  said  :  *  I  am 
sure,'  Madame,  that  you  have  been  pleased.' 

"  *  Sire,'    I    rephed,    '  I    have    been    inexpressibly 

delighted.' 

"  The  King  then  said  :   '  Racine  is  very  clever. 

"  I  replied  :  *  He  is  indeed.  Sire,  but  so  are  the  young 
ladies  ;  they  enter  into  their  parts  as  if  they  had  never 
done  anything  but  act.' 

"  '  Yes,  that  is  true,'  said  the  King,  and  he  then  turned 
away,  leaving  me  an  object  of  envy. 

"  M.  le  Prince  and  Madame  la  Princesse  came  and 
said  a  few  words  to  me;  Madame  de  Maintenon  bestowed 
a  glance  on  me  as  she  went  off  with  the  King  and  I  was 
in  luck  altogether.  We  returned  by  torchlight,  I  had 
supper  at  Madame  de  Coulanges,  and  in  the  evening 
saw  the  Chevalier  de  Grignan  to  whom  I  recounted  my 
small  prosperities." 

On  returning  to  Versailles  the  same  evening  the  King 
heard  of  the  death  of  his  niece,  the  young  Queen  of  Spain, 
daughter  of  **  Monsieur,"  and  the  Court  went  into  mourn- 
ing. The  representations  of  Esther  were  discontinued 
and  not  resumed  later,  for  it  was  found  that  they  had  a  bad 
effect  on  the  performers.  The  applause  of  the  Court 
turned  their  heads,  they  became  vain  and  worldly,  assum- 
ing very  imdesirable  airs  and  graces,  and  this  spirit 
infected  the  other  pupils  of  St  Cyr. 

The  bishops  and  ecclesiastics  who  attended  the  perform- 
ances, as  well  as  some  of  the  most  sensible  of  Madame  de 
Maintenon's  friends,  thoroughly  disapproved  of  such 
pubhcity  for  the  young  ladies.     Madame  de  Maintenon 


214 


MADAME  DE  MAINTENON 


ST  CYR  AND  ITS  STAFF 


215 


i 


herself  was  aghast  at  the  state  of  affairs,  and,  with  her  usual 
good  sense,  hastened  to  put  an  end  to  it. 

The  first  directress  of  St  Cyr,  Madame  de  Brinon,  though 
a  Canoness,  could  not  cease  to  be  a  great  lady ;  she  loved 
fame,  f^tes,  pubUcity,  and  was  more  fitted  to  turn  out 
Court  ladies  than  young  women  most  of  whom  were 
destined  for  provincial  life  on  small  means. 

Her  assistant,  Madame  de  la  Maison  Forte,  thought  it  a 
good  work,  to  fill  the  pupils'  minds  with  mythology,  fables 
and  philosophical  ideas.  The  girls  had  been  too  much 
petted  and  spoilt  by  praise  and  indulgence.  Madame  de 
Maintenon  said  to  the  Superior :  "  You  are  too  much 
I  inchned  to  admire,  praise  and  reward  them  for  simply 
doing  their  duty.  It  is  enough  to  say  :  *  That  is  well 
done,  I  am  satisfied.'  They  are  beginning  to  think  you 
under  an  obligation  for  anything  they  do." 

Madame  de  Maintenon's  desire  was  to  avoid  extremes, 
so  to  treat  the  girls  that  those  who  went  back  to  a  hfe  of 
poverty  might  not  find  too  great  a  contrast,  and  those 
who  were  in  easy  circumstances  would  be  none  the  worse 
for  being  brought  up  plainly. 

Madame  de  Brinon  could  not  give  the  desired  tone,  and 
her  assistants  did  not  persevere  in  their  duties,  and  got 
tired  of  the  restraints  of  the  hfe,  and  a  frequent  change  of 
staff  was  found  very  detrimental  to  the  interests  of  the 
institution ;  so  both  the  King  and  Madame  de  Maintenon 
felt  it  necessary  to  consent  to  the  desire  of  the  Bishop 
of  Chartres,  that  the  ladies  of  St  Cyr  should  be  formed  into 
a  Conmmnity ,  taking  perpetual  vows  and  giving  themselves 
up  to  the  work  of  education.  Madame  de  Brinon  and 
those  who  did  not  wish  to  take  perpetual  vows  retired, 
and  the  Ladies  of  St  Cyr  became  the  Community  of  St 


Louis.  They  took  the  usual  three  vows  of  poverty, 
chastity  and  obedience,  and  added  to  it  a  fourth :  to 
devote  themselves  to  education. 

The  Community  of  St  Louis  consisted  of  eight  persons, 
of  whom  forty  ladies,  professed  or  novices,  were  chosen 
among  the  old  pupUs.  The  King  reserved  to  himself  the 
right  to  nominate  these,  and  their  places,  when  vacant, 
were  to  be  filled  up  from  pupils  of  St  Cyr. 

The  forty  ladies  divided  the  charges  among  them  ;  the 
charges  were  subdivided  into  twenty-five  Great  and 
fifteen  Little  Charges.  Those  who  undertook  the  Great 
Charges  were  caUed  ofiicers  and  counciUors,  and  formed 
the  Interior  Council.  They  were  the  Superior,  Assistant 
Superior,  Novice  Mistress,  Mistress  General  of  Classes, 
Bursar  and  Intendante-Generale. 

Among  the  smaller  offices  were  the  Class  Mistress, 
Choir  Mistress,  Secretary,  General  Work  Mistress,  Linen 
Mistress,  Mistress  of  Infirmary,  and  the  Librarian.  The 
Great  Officers  were  elected  by  private  ballot,  and  held 
their  posts  for  three  years,  subject  to  re-election  at  the  end 

of  that  period. 
The  Superior  nominated  to  the  Small  Offices,  after 

taking  the  advice  of  the  Interior  Council. 

The  Superior  was  placed  under  the  superintendence  of 
the  Bishop  of  Chartres  for  spiritual  matters,  and  a 
CounciUor  of  State  nominated  by  the  King  for  temporal 
matters.    They  were  called  the  External  CouncU. 

Des  Marets,  Bishop  of  Chartres  (through  whose  influence 
the  Dames  de  St  Louis  were  changed  into  an  Augustine 
Community  taking  perpetual  vows),  was  a  man  of  grand 
character,  wise,  learned,  just  and  practical,  knowing  how 
to  conduct  himself  and  be  at  his  ease  in  the  great  world, 


2l6 


MADAME  DE  MAINTENON 


ST  CYR  AND  ITS  STAFF 


217 


without  assimilating  himself  to  it.  His  personal  life  was 
austere  and  immaculate.  When  some  great  persons  went 
to  visit  him,  they  found  him  in  a  room  containing  only  a 
bed,  a  rickety  chair,  and  a  table  on  which  was  the  Bible, 
and  a  map  of  Jerusalem. 

The  first  Superior  elected  after  the  foundation  of  the 
Community  of  St  Louis  was  Madame  de  Loubert.  She 
was  only  twenty- two  years  of  age  and  had  been  brought 
up  in  Madame  de  Maintenon's  estabhshment  at  Noisy. 
Her  installation  was  conducted  with  great  pomp,  on 
19th  May  1689 — the  King  was  present,  and  gave  to  the 
community  Ferdinand's  celebrated  picture  of  Madame  de 
Maintenon.^ 

During  the  period  of  transition  Madame  de  Maintenon 
had  spent  all  her  time  at  St  Cyr,  excepting  the  hours 
that  the  King  was  accustomed  to  come  to  her  room  at 
Versailles.  She  would  arrive  at  6  a.m.,  help  dress  the  little 
ones,  and  go  through  the  whole  routine  of  the  day ;  one  day 
with  one  class,  next  day  with  another,  to  see  for  herself 
what  was  wanting  and  what  was  satisfactory. 

She  would  talk  to  the  girls  individually  and  collectively, 
rebuking  some,  encouraging  others, giving  advice  as  needed. 
All  this  she  did  with  the  grace  that  was  instinctive  in  her 
every  word  and  action. 

After  Madame  de  Loubert's  period  of  holding  office  as 
Superior  expired,  Madame  de  Fontaine  was  elected — she 
was  remarkably  beautiful  but  quite  unconscious  of  it. 
Then  came  Madame  de  P^ron,  who  was  re-elected  eight 
times. 

Madame  de  la  Mciison  Forte,  who  was  a  great  favourite 
of  Madame  de  Maintenon,  wavered  for  a  long  time  before 

*  This  picture  still  exists  and  is  in  the  Musee  de  Versailles,  No.  2 114. 


she  could  make  her  choice  for  God  or  the  world.  Madame 
de  Maintenon  wished  to  retain  her  for  St  Cyr  and  to  protect 
her  from  the  dangers  that  her  character  made  her  par- 
ticularly open  to  in  the  world  and  wrote  her  the  remarkable 
letter  which  Voltaire  quoted  against  ambition : — 

"  You  will  never  be  content,  my  dear  daughter,  till  you 
love  God  with  all  your  heart.  I  do  not  say  this  in  re- 
ference only  to  your  profession.  Solomon  long  ago  told 
us  that  all  is  vanity  except  the  love  and  service  of  God. 
Nothing  in  the  world  gives  complete  satisfaction — peace 
comes  only  when  we  have  given  ourselves  up  to  God 
heart  and  soul.  Then  we  feel  that  there  is  nothing  else  to 
be  sought  for,  having  attained  the  only  good  thing  there 
is  on  earth.  We  have  troubles,  but  also  solid  consola- 
tion, and  peace  in  the  heart  in  the  midst  of  great 
afflictions." 

Madame  de  la  Maison  Forte  left  the  decision  of  her 
destiny  to  her  directors,  among  whom  was  Fenelon.  These 
gentlemen  deliberated  on  the  vocation  of  the  lady  while 
she  went  to  pray  in  chapel.  The  council  were  unanimous 
in  calling  on  her  to  take  the  vows.  On  hearing  this,  she 
gave  a  great  cry  and  became  unconscious.  She  was 
carried  to  her  room,  passed  the  night  in  prayer,  and  in  the 
morning  said  calmly  that  she  was  prepared  to  consecrate 
her  Ufe  to  God.     In  after  years  she  was  elected  Superior. 

Other  favourites  were  Madame  de  Berval,  who  had 
literary  abilities,  and  wrote  down  Madame  de  Maintenon's 
conversations  and  preserved  her  letters  ;  Madame  de 
Montalambert,  always  seeking  perfection  but  prone  to 
exaggeration.  If  she  received  a  note  from  Madame  de 
%  Maintenon  she  would  only  open  it  before  the  Blessed 
Sacrament,  and  after  having  evoked  the  Holy  Spirit  to 
give  her  grace  to  profit  by  its  contents.    To  cure  her  of 


I 


2l8 


MADAME  DE  MAINTENON 


ST  CYR  AND  ITS  STAFF 


219 


this,  Madame  de  Maintenon,  who  detested  exaggeration, 
one  day  sent  her  a  large  packet,  which  when  opened  was 
found  to  contain  only  these  words  :  "I  hope  your  cold  is 
better.     I  am  quite  well." 

Madame  de  Maintenon's  ideal  of  what  a  nun  should  be 
was  a  very  high  one.  She  tried  to  eradicate  all  wordliness 
from  her  friends  in  the  Community  of  St  Cyr.  She  wrote 
to  one  : —  n 

"  I  wish  you  not  to  have  a  worldly  spirit — not  to  desire 
to  mix  with  the  world,  not  to  feel  ashamed  if  a  relative 
comes  to  visit  you  on  foot,  and  delighted  if  they  come  in 
a  carriage. 

"  So  many  nuns  are  just  as  eager  as  other  people  in  the 
world  about  rank,  wealth  and  favour,  and  car^  more 
that  their  Abbess  should  be  a  person  of  quality,  than  one 
who  can  lead  them  to  God. 

"  All  their  conduct  shows  that  they  esteem  riches  and 
grandeur  more  than  the  poverty  and  obedience  to  which 
they  are  vowed,  and  are  not  imbued  with  the  Spirit  of 
the  Gospel.  Please  God  this  worldliness  shall  not  creep 
into  St  Cyr." 

To  the  Abbess  of  Gomerfontaine,  who  had  been  a  pupil 
of  St  Cyr,  and  was  straitened  for  funds  for  the  establish- 
ment of  her  new  convent  in  the  provinces,  she  wrote  : — 

"  I  send  twenty  pounds  for  your  more  pressing  needs — 
I  feel  the  greatest  sympathy  for  your  difficulties." 

Three  days  later,  17th  October  1705  : — 

*'  I  have  obtained,  and  without  difficulty,  two  hundred 
francs  from  Cardinal  de  Noailles,  two  hundred  from  M.  le 
Marshal,  two  hundred  from  M.  le  Due,  two  hundred  from 
Madame  la  Duchesse  de  Bourgogne  and  four  hundred 
from  the  King,  altogether  fifteen  hundred  francs,  you 
must  be  sparing  in  the  use  of  it,  as  it  is  the  last  you  can 


hope  for  in  these  quarters.     If  I  could  have  done  more 
for  you  I  would,  my  dear  child. 

"  You  must  employ  your  household  in  making  wax- 
candles,  and  weaving  their  clothing  ;  you  cannot  give 
them  too  much  to  do  so  that  they  may  have  their  minds 
occupied  in  the  work  of  the  household,  and  have  Httle 
time  for  gossip  in  the  parlour,  which  is  the  scandal  of 
some  convents.  I  am  always  glad  when  I  hear  the  Ladies 
of  St  Louis  say  they  wish  the  day  were  two  hours  longer. 
When  you  lie  down  to  rest  at  night  how  pleasant  it  is 
to  remember  that  you   have  not  had  an  idle  hour 

all  day.  '  ,  , 

"  If  you  think  the  candidates  I  sent  you  have  no  real 
vocation  do  not  hesitate  to  send  them  back.  You  have 
to  answer  to  God  for  their  souls,  and  it  will  be  no  excuse 
to  say  you  wished  to  please  Madame  de  Maintenon  !  I 
can  understand  that  the  girls  are  fond  of  you.  but  it 
would  be  wrong  for  them  to  become  nuns  on  that 
account.  God  alone  is  worthy  of  such  a  sacrifice,  and  God 
alone  can  make  up  for  it.  Piety  is  only  an  hypocrisy  if  it 
is  merely  external  and  not  of  the  soul.  The  real  piety  of 
the  soul  consists  of  being  occupied  with  God,  single- 
minded  in  all  we  do,  and  of  living  as  in  His  presence." 

At  the  time  of  Madame  de  Maintenon's  retirement  to  St 
Cyr,  after  the  King's  death,  Madame  de  Glapion  was 
Superior.  She  has  been  called  the  Pearl  of  St  Cyr.^  Her 
defects  would  have  been  the  virtues  of  another ;  she  joined 
to  tenderness  of  soul  an  extensive  knowledge,  having 
studied  medicine,  chemistry,  botany,  and  surgery  with 
profit,  and  without  becoming  self  -  conceited.  She  was 
very  witty  and  intellectual,  but  served  four  years  in  the 
infirmary  in  order  to  mortify  her  senses  ;  she  became  a 
nurse  who  was  loved  by  her  patients,  a  spirited  and  original 
class  mistress.     In  her  hands  Madame  de  Maintenon  left 

1  She  had  been  a  pupil  at  St  Cyr  and  excited  great  admiration  by  her 
performance  in  Esther.  At  her  own  desire  she  became  a  nun  and 
entered  the  novitiate  when  eighteen  years  of  age. 


I 


220 


MADAME  DE  MAINTENON 


her  beloved  St  Cyr  with  the  utmost  confidence,  saying  she 
was  the  only  one  who  had  never  disappointed  her  ;  and 
people  saw  in  Madame  de  Glapion  a  living  reproduction  of 
Madame  de  Main  tenon,  so  thoroughly  had  she  assimilated 
her  ideas. 

Madame  de  Maintenon's  supervision  of  St  Cyr  was  not 
perfunctory  or  merely  formal. ^  No  details  were  too  small 
for  her,  and  as  years  passed  she  spent  more  and  more  of  her 
time  there,  coming  at  all  sorts  of  unexpected  hours,  and 
taking  part  in  whatever  might  be  the  occupation  of  the 
moment.  She  had  personal  knowledge  of  most  of  the 
elder  girls,  the  Blues  and  Blacks — studied  their  characters 
and  was  never  tired  of  advising  and  helping  them.  Even 
on  her  journeys  with  the  Court  she  would  take  with  her  a 
bundle  of  the  letters  she  encouraged  these  girls  to  write  to 
her,  and  sitting  in  the  King's  coach  would  read  them, 
correct  any  mistakes  in  spelling,  and  return  them  to  the 
writers  with  comments. 

St  Cyr  was  the  apple  of  her  eye ;  all  her  intellectual 
powers,  her  gift  for  organisation,  all  her  past  experience, 
all  her  most  generous  sentiments,  her  affections  were 
turned  to  the  account  of  St  Cyr  and  lavished  on  its 
inmates.  The  following  letter,  addressed  to  one  of  the 
community,  well  expresses  her  feelings  on  the  subject : 

"  I  feel  a  great  joy  when  the  door  closes  behind  me 
after  entering  your  house,  which  I  always  leave  with 
reluctance.  Often  on  returning  to  the  Castle  I  say  to 
myself :  *  Behold,  a  part  of  the  world  for  which,  according 
to  appearances,  Jesus  Christ  has  not  prayed.  The  King  is 

*  One  day,  after  having  been  in  the  kitchen  at  St  Cyr,  Madame  de 
Maintenon  had  to  attend  a  Court  function,  and  a  lay  sister  said  to  her  : 
"  Madame,  you  will  take  with  you  the  aroma  of  the  kitchen,  the  smell 
of  fat."     "  Yes,"  she  rephed,  "  but  no  one  will  think  it  comes  from  me." 


ST  CYR  AND  ITS  STAFF 


221 


at  the  head,  which  redoubles  my  grief.  There  are  some 
fine  souls  at  the  Court  and  virtue  has  its  elect  everj^where 
— but  it  is  there  that  what  is  called  *  the  world  '  is  con- 
centrated— there  passions  are  all  alive, — self-interest, 
ambition,  hatred,  envy,  to  this  world  I  go.  I  confess  these 
sentiments  fill  me  with  horror  and  sadness  at  the  sight 
of  Versailles.  When  I  am  here  I  can  forget  that  there  ib 
a  Court,  and  it  is  a  relief  to  have  a  respite  from  troubles 
when  one  has  no  hope  of  seeing  them  end.  I  often  reflect 
on  my  involuntary  hatred  of  the  Court — and  I  see  that 
God  has  destined  me  for  it — and  wishes  to  sanctify  me  by 
giving  me  a  duty  that  goes  contrary  to  my  taste  and  my 
self-love." 

Racine  puts  into  Esther's  mouth  words  recognised  as 
referring  to  Madame  de  Maintenon  at  St  Cyr : — 

"  C'est  la  que  fuyant  I'orgueil  du  diaddme 
Lasse  des  vains  honneurs,  et  cherchant  moi-meme 
Aux  pieds  de  I'Eternel  je  viens  m'humilier 
Et  gouter  le  plaisir  de  me  faire  oublier" 

Several  of  Madame  de  Maintenon's  nieces  (or  cousins' 
children^)  were  educated  at  St  Cyr — and  special  orders 
were  given  that  not  the  slightest  difference  should  be  made 
between  their  treatment  and  that  of  the  other  pupils. 
Madame  de  Maintenon  thought  it  beneficial  for  the  young 
Duchess  of  Burgundy  to  share  the  education  of  St  Cyr, 
and  while  that  lasted  Madame  de  Maintenon  was  generally 
to  be  found  there,  so  the  King,  having  finished  his  day's 
work  with  Ministers,  used  to  go  to  St  Cyr  to  pick  up 
Madame  de  Maintenon  and  take  her  for  a  drive.  He 
sometimes  attended  Vespers  in  the  chapel.  The  ladies 
of  St  Cyr  preserved  some  of  the  notes  that  the  King  used 
to  send  Madame  de  Maintenon  about  the  day's  arrange- 
ments. 

*  NUces  d  la  mode  de  Bretagne. 


222 


MADAME  DE  MAINTENON 


Here  are  one  or  two  of  them  : — 

"  I  think  I  shall  be  able  to  come  to  Compline  at  St 
Cyr,  and  return  with  you  driving.  In  case  you  approve 
this  plan,  select  some  ladies  to  accompany  us,  and  send 
me  a  note  saying  you  agree,  in  order  that  I  may  arrange 
accordmgly  "  (2nd  February  1698). 

In  another  he  says  : — 

"  I  have  changed  my  plans  for  the  day— the  fine 
weather  prevents  my  going  to  St  Germains.  I  shall 
put  that  off  till  to-morrow.  To-day  I  shall  hunt,  and 
afterwards  come  to  the  gate  of  St  Cyr,  the  Park  side, 
where  my  coach  will  be  waitmg.  I  hope  you  will  ]om 
me  there  with  such  companions  as  you  please,  and  we 
will  take  a  drive  in  the  Park.  To-morrow  on  retummg 
from  St  Germains,  being  decently  dressed,^  I  shaU 
attend  service  in  the  Chapel  and  we  will  return  together. 
Send  word  whether  you  will  join  me  at  the  Park  gate  or 
whether  you  wish  my  coach  to  come  for  you  into  the 
Courtyard «  of  St  Cyr  "  (May  1703). 

Another  time,  when  important  news  came  and  the  King 

wanted  her  advice,  he  writes  : — 

"  I  have  just  heard  from  Calais,  by  a  courier,  of  the 
death  of  the  Prince  of  Orange  [26th  March  1702].  I  beg 
you  to  return  to  Versailles  without  delay." 

During  the  wars  the  King  always  hastened  to  give 
Madame  de  Maintenon  the  latest  news,  without  waiting 
for  her  return  to  the  palace. 

On  loth  December  1710  he  writes  :— 

"  The  enemy  has  retired  and  the  King  of  Spain  is 
master  of  Madrid.  I  thought  you  would  not  be  sorry 
to  get  this  news  at  the  earliest  possible  moment." 

1  The  King  greatly  disapproved  of  people  attending  the  services  of 
the  Church  carelessly  dressed. 

«  The  coach  never  entered  the  cloister,  the  King  and  Madame  de 
Maintenon  after  service  went  on  foot  to  Park  gate.  Louis  showed  his 
respect  by  not  thinking  it  suitable  to  attend  chapel  in  his  hunting  dress. 


,\ 


ST  CYR  AND  ITS  STAFF 
Another  time  Madame  de  Maintenon  writes 


223 


"  I  was  at  St  Cyr  when  the  King's  equerry  came  to 
tell  me  of  the  Victory  of  Villaviciosa.  Our  three 
himdred  girls  went  at  once  to  the  Chapel  for  a  Thanks- 
giving Service,  and  had  a  hoHday  in  honour  of  the 
event.*' 


CHAPTER   XX 


[ 


i  \ 


:  i 


ST  CYR  MAXIMS 

ADAME  DE  BERNEVAL  has  described 
the  impression  made  at  St  Cyr  by  Madame 
de  Maintenon's  appearance  soon  after  her 
marriage : — 

"  The  first  impression  she  made  was  imposing,  but 
her  air  of  severity  vanished  when  she  spoke  and 
smiled  Her  voice  was  most  agreeable,  her  manner 
winning,  she  had  a  bright  and  open  forehead,  eyes  ful 
of  fire  and  the  carriage  of  her  figure  was  so  graceful 
and  supple  that  it  eclipsed  the  best  at  Court. 

This  same  member  of  the  Community  of  St  Louis 
(Madame  de  Bemeval)  has  recorded  the  conversations  of 
their  benefactress  with  the  nuns  and  pupUs,  and  also 
collected  the  maxims  which  she  most  frequently  enunciated 
and  endeavoured  to  impress  on  all.  From  them  we  learn 
to  understand  what  Madame  de  Maintenon  really  was, 
what  were  the  guiding  principles  of  her  own  Ufe,  what  her 
most  sincere  and  profound  convictions. 

One  of  her  maxims  all  teachers  would  do  well  to  lay  to 
heart.  It  is  as  foUows  :  "  Care  must  be  taken  to  avoid 
telling  children  as  facts,  stories,  which  they  afterwards 
come  to  know  are  fictitious  ;  always  give  them  truth  as 
truth,  and  fable  as  fable." 

1  Madame  de  Maintenon  never  tried  to  appear  young.  At  the  time 
of  her  marriage  her  dress  would  have  suited  a  person  of  more  advancea 
yesis. 


f  m^ 


*'-^'  -:- 


-•   >^"^. 


¥^^'^Bmm^-^^'^^^mlB 


dW^i^ 


■-%m. 


^ .  ■j*.'-'  _ ,,.» 


ST.  CYR,       A    DAMK    DK   SI.   LOUIS   AND   TUKKK    I'UI'II.S 


ST  CYR  MAXIMS 


225 


Another  was  :  "  Children  instinctively  dislike  we  grown- 
up people  lowering  ourselves  to  their  level  by  using  infantile 
language,  and  puerile  manners ;  one  influences  them  best, 
by  raising  them  to  our  level  by  means  of  their  reason/* 

It  appears  that  such  an  institution  as  St  C5n:  was  really 
needed  to  improve  the  manners  and  morals  of  French- 
women of  the  rising  generation. 

Writing  at  Rotterdam,  21st  October  1696,  Bayle  says : — 

"  The  books  that  come  from  France  give  an  extra- 
ordinary idea  of  Frenchwomen.  They  have  become 
great  drinkers  of  brandy  and  takers  of  snuff,  and  are 
accused  of  tyranising  over  husbands,  of  pride,  coquetry, 
imchastity  and  slanderous  tongues.  ..." 

Madame  de  Maintenon  seems  to  have  been  of  the  same 
opinion,  for  she  wrote  to  a  pupil  who  was  about  to  leave 
St  Cyr  :— 

"  Do  not  remain  en  deshabille  in  the  house,  and 
only  dress  neatly  when  going  out.  Avoid  the  excesses 
of  which  even  girls  are  now  guilty,  eating  too  much, 
taking  snuff,  and  too  much  wine.  We  have  so  many 
real  needs,  that  it  is  not  wise  to  invent  others." 

Her  admirable  advice  to  pupils  relating  to  their  lives 
when  they  left  St  Cyr,  is  equally  suitable  and  useful  for 
the  young  ladies  of  the  present  day,  who  would  do  well  to 
turn  their  attention  to  it. 

She  endeavoured  to  make  them  understand  the  trials 
that  probably  awaited  them.     She  said  : — 

"  You  are  bom  ladies,  but  poor  ladies.  You  must 
not  think  that  to  obtain  new  dresses  when  yours  are 
shabby,  you  will  only  need  to  take  some  measurements 
and  purchase  some  material  at  a  shop  ;  you  will  have 
to  consider  where  the  money  to  pay  for  them  is  to 

o 


/ 


!  tl 


226 


MADAME  DE  MAINTENON 


ST  CYR  MAXIMS 


227 


il 


come  from.  When  you  rejoin  your  .family,  what  will 
you  find  ?  Probably  an  old,  infirm  father  or  mother, 
a  number  of  chUdren  to  be  fed,  and  you  will  add  to  the 
number.  You  will  have  to  wait  on  your  parents,  teach 
your  little  brothers  and  sisters— perhaps,  do  the  cooking 
and  marketing.  The  war  has  spared  nobody,  you  will 
find  your  parents  with  half  their  former  income. 

"  If  your  parents  are  dead,  you  may  have  to  take  a 
position  in  some  lady's  house— and  there  you  wiU  have 
to  consider  the  difference  between  true  and  false  pnde. 
Proper  pride  is  to  be  unwilling  to  do  anything  for  which 
we  shall  afterwards  have  to  reproach  ourselves  ;  to  avoid 
all  base  actions  ;  to  prefer  to  endure  privations  rather 
than  live  at  the  expense  of  others.  .    ^^ •  , 

"  It  is  false  pride  to  boast  of  one  s  birth  ;  to  think 
it  a  disgrace  not  to  be  richly  dressed  ;  to  be  punctilious 
as  to  precedence,  to  think  enough  respect  is  not  shown 
to  us  not  to  condescend  to  thank  those  who  serve  us ; 
not  to  recognise  an  old  friend  or  relation  because  they 
are  poor  or  badly  dressed.  It  is  proper  pride  that  leads 
us  to  prefer  to  be  poorly  dressed  rather  than  go  into 
debt  for  fine  clothes. 

"  Some  people  think  it  a  disgrace  to  work  for  a  liveli- 
hood but  all  who  have  good  sense  see  that  it  is  generous, 
brave  and  honourable  to  work,  rather  than  depend  on 

other  people's  charity.  ,       .u 

"  Beggars  on  horseback  disdain  to  touch  work  with 
the  tips  of  their  fingers— not  so  the  really  noble.  No 
kind  of  useful  work  is  degrading. 

"  When  I  was  with  the  princes  and  had  to  change 
house  to  ensure  privacy,  I  did  not  allow  strange  work- 
men to  be  employed,  and  I  used  to  mount  a  ladder  to 
nail  up  tapestries  and  curtains.  When  I  went  to  visit 
the  Duchesse  de  Montchevrueil  and  found  her  maid  ill, 
I  swept  and  dusted  the  rooms,  dressed  the  children  and 
did  everything  to  make  her  comfortable. 

"  Madame  la  Dauphine's  maid  was  awkward  and  could 
not  comb  her  thick  hair  without  hurting  her  ;  I  had  been 
used  to  comb  my  mother's  hair  and  did  not  think  it 
beneath  me  to  do  Madame  la  Dauphine's  for  her  daily, 
while  I  was  her  lady-in-waiting." 


Some  of  the  nuns  thought  it  improper  to  speak  of 
marriage  to  the  pupils.  But  Madame  de  Maintenon  said 
to  them  : — 

"  Marriage  is  a  Sacrament  instituted  by  the  Church, 
which  Christ  sanctioned  by  His  presence,  and  a  state 
that  St  Paul  called  honourable.  How  are  girls,  most  of 
whom  will  be  married,  to  learn  to  fulfil  the  duties  which 
it  brings,  if  they  are  never  advised  on  the  subject  and  see 
that  their  teachers  avoid  speaking  of  it  ? 

"  You  cannot  inculcate  too  frequently  the  duty  of  a 
wife  to  be  entirely  devoted  to  her  husband  and  his 
interests,  and  to  his  spiritual  as  well  as  temporal  benefit ; 
also  to  set  him  an  example  of  patience  under  difficulties, 
and  scrupulous  fulfilment  of  religious  duties.  Impress 
on  the  pupils  the  duty  of  caring  for  their  children  them- 
selves, not  leaving  them  to  servants. 

"  Besides  the  care  and  education  of  children  they  will 
have  to  superintend  servants,  and  attend  to  the  proper 
management  of  all  household  matters  and  the  expendi- 
fure  of  funds.  A  good  wife  and  mother  will  not  find  life 
a  fete,  as  so  many  girls  hope  and  expect  to  do  when  they 
are  married. 

"  Impress  these  ideas  on  their  minds  and  do  not  be  dis- 
suaded by  false  modesty." 

Madame  de  Maintenon  noticed  that  most  of  the  girls 
laughed  and  blushed  when  the  word  "  marriage  "  was  used.^ 
and  she  said  one  day,  to  a  group  gathered  around 
her : —  ' 

"  There  is  nothing  to  laugh  about  in  marriage  ;  there 
is  no  state  of  life  in  which  more  trouble  and  trials  are  to 
be  met  with.  You  think  that  nuns  have  to  endure  hard- 
ships, but  what  they  have  to  bear  is  nothing  compared  to 
what  has  to  be  endured  in  the  world.  Here  you  are 
sheltered  from  all  troubles  and  have  all  your  wants  pro- 

*  Madame  de  Maintenon  also  laughed  at  the  false  modesty  of  one  of 
the  httle  ones,  who  was  scandaUsed  because  her  father,  when  visiting 
m  the  parlour,  happened  to  mention  the  word  "  trousens." 


li 


II! 


I 


228 


MADAME  DE  MAINTENON 


ST  CYR  MAXIMS 


229 


ill 


vided  for,  and  you  do  not  know  what  trouble  is.     You  do 
not  like  to  have  to  obey  rules,  and  to  do  what  is  ordered 
instead  of  what  you  fancy  ;  but  rules  have  to  be  obeyed 
everywhere,  and  there  is  no  place  where  people  can  do  as 
they  please  less  than  at  Court.    Though  I  have  the 
honour  to  live  at  Court,  I  cannot  follow  my  own  wishes. 
If  asked  whether  I  shall  come  to  St  Cyr  to-morrow,  I 
cannot  say— nor  at  what  time  I  shall  dine,  or  go  to  bed- 
probably  not  till  after  midnight.     I  should  like  to  go 
earlier,  but  cannot  please  myself.     Nothing  equals  the 
restraints  that  courtiers  and  Court  ladies  have  to  endure. 
They  have  to  go  out  walking  in  a  horrible  wmd,  out  of 
respect  to  the  King,  when  they  have  no  wish  to  ;  they 
come  back  very  tired,  and  the  ladies  say  :      Oh  !   how 
tired  I  am  !     This  place  will  kill  me  !  '     Another  says  : 
'  I  cannot  stand  it  any  longer  :  if  even  I  could  walk  with 
someone  I  like  it  would  not  be  so  bad,  but  no  !  I  am  tied 
up  to  someone  who  bores  me  to  death.' } 

"  At  Court  people  cannot  choose  their  own  companions 
any  more  than  they  can  at  St  Cyr.  \ 

'  The  King  himself  cannot  do  what  he  likes  always. 
Sometimes  he  is  the  whole  day  in  his  Cabinet  attending 
to  accounts.     I  have  seen  him,  with  a  sphtting  headache 
making  references,  beginning  again  and  never  leaving  oft 
tiU  he  has  finished  the  work  in  hand.     He  holds  several 
councils  daily,  where  serious  affairs,  very  often  grievous 
and  annoying,  are  treated  of.    The  great  Ministers  of 
State  have  to  work  from  morning  till  night.     There  is  no 
question  for  them  of  leisure  or  recreatioi^    It  is  only 
the  young  ladies  of  St  Cyr  who  do  not  want  trouble  or 
unpleasantness.   Do  not  think  that  obedience  to  orders  is 
necessary  only  in  convents  and  for  the  young.     I  can 
assure  you  it  is  for  aU  states  and  ages.     I  cannot  tell  you 
too  often  to  accustom  yourself  to  give  up  your  own 
will.     A  well-bred  person  is  one  who  is  ready  to  do  any- 
thing that  may  be  reasonably  asked  of  her.     If  your 
fortune  obliges  you  to  take  a  post  in  the  house  of  a  lady 
of  quality,  you  will  have  to  obey  and  to  give  up  your 
own  will  ten  times  a  day  and  to  be  ready  for  anything. 
If  you  marry  you  will  have  to  think  of  your  husband  s 
wishes   not  your  own.     Those  who  do  not  live  at  the 


Court  may  find  less  restraints  in  country  life,  but  in  all 
families  and  all  conditions  troubles  are  inevitable." 

Madame  de  Maintenon  wished  to  inspire  the  pupils  of  St 
Cyr  with  the  spirit  of  compassion  and  sympathy  for  the 
sufferings  of  others,  and  encouraged  them  to  visit  the  poor 
and  sick  in  the  neighbourhood,  and  to  make  the  bed  of  one, 
some  soup  for  another,  etc. 

When  asked  as  to  the  duty  of  almsgiving,  she  said :  "In 
giving  you  must  first  think  of  your  own  poor  relations, 
their  needs  must  come  first,  then  how  much  you  can  afford. 
You  may  deny  yourselves  any  personal  gratification  in 
order  to  give  money  to  the  poor;  but  you  must  not,  through 
an  impulse  of  pity,  give  away  money  which  is  required  for 
necessary  household  expenses,  and  go  in  debt  for  them  ; 
nor  must  you  even  borrow  to  give  alms.  God  only  requires 
of  us  according  to  our  means,  and  those  who  have  little 
money  will  often  be  able  to  show  charity  by  small  personal 
services." 

Some  of  Madame  de  Maintenon 's  most  oft  repeated 
maxims  were  : 

'*  The  greatest  pleasure  is  to  give  pleasure." 
—  "  To  be  agreeable  to  others  one  must  forget  oneself." 

"  The  only  real  misfortune  is  to  have  done  wrong." 
^  "  Riches  consist  in  wanting  little,  not  having  much." 

"  Do  not  complain  of  ill-fortune,  but  try  and  make  your- 
self worthy  of  better." 

"  Never  forget  God  ;  if  you  have  not  time  to  pray  to 
Him,  think  of  Him." 

Madame  de  Maintenon  generally  had  one  of  the  pupils 
who  had  finished  their  education  at  St  Cyr  acting  as  her 
secretary.  One  who  was  a  great  favourite  was  Mademoi- 
selle de  Casteja.     She  accompanied  Madame  de  Maintenon 


■i 


230 


MADAME  DE  MAINTENON 


ST  CYR  MAXIMS 


231 


to  the  siege  of  Namur.  Mademoiselle  de  Caste j  a,  who  was 
extremely  beautiful,  married  M.  de  Lalande,  Gentleman  of 
the  Chamber  to  the  Due  du  Maine,  and  afterwards  became 
Sub-Governess  to  the  Children  of  France  (the  King's 
grandchildren).  Soon  after  the  marriage  Madame  de 
Maintenon  wrote  her  a  charming  letter,  and  sent  with  it  a 
lovely  fan  on  which  was  painted  Madame  de  Maintenon's 
sitting-room,  with  the  King  writing  at  a  table,  Madame  de 
Maintenon  sitting  near  him,  netting;  the  Duchess  of 
Burgundy  at  play,  and  Mademoiselle  d'Aubignd  having  a 
collation.     The  letter  said  : 

'*  I  cannot  come  to  you,  and  you  cannot  come  to  me, 
though  you  wish  to  see  me,  so  I  send  you  my  room." 

Another  St  Cyrite  who  was  so  devoted  to  Madame  de 
Maintenon  that  she  gave  up  a  marriage,  rather  than  leave 
her,  was  Mademoiselle  d'Aumale.  She  was  Madame  de 
Maintenon's  trusted  friend  and  secretary  for  many  years 
and  up  to  the  time  of  Madame  de  Maintenon's  death. 

Finally,  as  if  to  show  that  her  interest  in  St  Cyr  would  not 
end  even  with  her  Ufe,  Madame  de  Maintenon  one  day  said 
laughingly,  to  a  class  whom  she  was  addressing  very 
earnestly  : — 

"  If  it  happens  that  you  act  contrary  to  the  spirit 
of  my  instructions,  I  shall  after  my  death  come  back 
from  the  other  world,  and  make  a  dreadful  noise  to 
frighten  you." 

"  When  you  go  out  into  the  world  you  will  not  find 
every-one  acting  up  to  the  high  principles  you  have  been 
taught  here  ;  but  that  is  no  reason  why  you  yourselves 
should  depart  from  them,  nor  a  reason  for  being  unable 
to  hve  with  those  who  have  not  been  so  well  taught  as 
yourself.     Nor  must  you  say  :  *  They  do  not  do  so  at 


St  Cyr.'  That  would  be  the  way  to  make  yourself 
hated  everywhere.  But  what  you  have  learned  here 
ought  to  teach  you  to  bear  with  patience  the  failings 
of  others,  and  the  contradictions  to  be  met  with  every- 
where in  life." 

Those  who  wish  for  fuller  details  of  the  system  of  St  Cyr  should 
read:  "Madame  de  Maintenon  sur  I'Education,"  by  Oct,  Gr6arde,  de 
rAcad6mie  Francaise.     Pub.  Hachette.     Paris,  1905,  popular  edition. 


i 


CHAPTER   XXI 


ii 


THE   INNER  CIRCLE   OF   MADAME   DE   MAINTENON 

AN   English   lady  of  rank,  who  visited   Paris 
about    1694,    wishing   to   see    Madame    de 
Maintenon,  was  taken  to  watch  her  start 
with  the   King  for  Marly,  and  wrote  the 
following  description  : — 

*'  Madame  de  Maintenon  appeared  without  attendants, 
her  dress  was  of  some  brown  stuff,  and  she  wore  a  very 
striking  head-dress.  She  had  no  ornaments  except  a 
small  diamond  cross  suspended  from  the  neck.  She 
placed  herself  beside  the  King  in  the  coach  and  bowed 
with  dignity,  smiling  pleasantly  when  she  perceived  an 
English  lady  among  the  spectators.  Her  eyes  were  very 
fine,  and  there  was  about  her  whole  person  that  inde- 
finable charm  which  age  cannot  destroy.  She  seemed 
entirely  occupied  in  seemg  if  the  King  were  comfortably 
seated.  A  servant  brought  her  needlework  ;  she  then 
put  up  the  glass  of  the  window,  put  on  her  spectacles,  and 
began  working  as  the  coach  started." 

Although  Madame  de  Maintenon  comported  herself  with 
great  dignity  when  with  the  courtiers  in  general,  she 
relaxed  when  among  her  intimate  friends,  who  found  an 
inexpressible  charm  in  her  society  and  her  conversation, 
which  was  full  of  wit  and  grace. 

There  were  certain  ladies  who  were  constantly  with  her 
at  all  her  entertainments  and  played  cards  with  the  King. 
They  were  known  as  the  "  Cabal." 


,   /  .  1Vi#iJ«*r-»Ni»»^  ■ 


fttMy^.^^, 


Fi^Sl^^^i 


^t'^>*<e'-*M. 


CHAPTER   XXI 


THE  INNER  CIRCLE  OF  MADAME   DE   MAINTENON 

AN   English   lady  of  rank,  who  visited   Paris 
about    1694,    wishing   to   see    Madame    de 
Maintenon,  was  taken  to  watch  her  start 
with  the  King  for  Marly,  and  wrote  the 
following  description  : — 

"  Madame  de  Maintenon  appeared  without  attendants, 
her  dress  was  of  some  brown  stuff,  and  she  wore  a  very 
striking  head-dress.  She  had  no  ornaments  except  a 
small  diamond  cross  suspended  from  the  neck.  She 
placed  herself  beside  the  King  in  the  coach  and  bowed 
with  dignity,  smiling  pleasantly  when  she  perceived  an 
English  lady  among  the  spectators.  Her  eyes  were  very 
fine,  and  there  was  about  her  whole  person  that  inde- 
finable charm  which  age  cannot  destroy.  She  seemed 
entirely  occupied  in  seemg  if  the  King  were  comfortably 
seated.  A  servant  brought  her  needlework  ;  she  then 
put  up  the  glaiss  of  the  window,  put  on  her  spectacles,  and 
began  working  as  the  coach  started." 

Although  Madame  de  Maintenon  comported  herself  with 
great  dignity  when  with  the  courtiers  in  general,  she 
relaxed  when  among  her  intimate  friends,  who  found  an 
inexpressible  charm  in  her  society  and  her  conversation, 
which  was  full  of  wit  and  grace. 

There  were  certain  ladies  who  were  constantly  with  her 
at  all  her  entertainments  and  played  cards  with  the  King. 
They  were  known  as  the  "  Cabal." 


2  a  d^Atamtenmi 


INNER  CIRCLE  OF  MME.  DE  MAINTENON     233 

In  1642  Madame  de  Maintenon  wrote  to  Madame  de 
Caylus  : — 

"My  little  finger  tells  me  that  the  news  from  England 
is  good.  This  must  console  me  for  the  little  contradic- 
tions to  be  met  with  in  daily  life.  I  intended  to  dine  with 
my  '  Cabal/  the  King  has  prevented  it.  He  is  to  come 
to  my  room  at  two  o'clock,  perhaps  he  will  not  come 
so  soon.  He  is  to  go  out  at  four  o'clock,  perhaps  he  will 
not  go  out  at  all. 

"  He  proposes  a  game  of  cards  for  this  evening, 
perhaps  we  shall  not  even  see  him.  I  have  not  the  least 
idea  what  I  shall  do  to-morrow." 

The  "  Cabal  "  consisted  of  the  Marquise  de  Levis,  nee  de 
Luynes  ;  the  Marquise  d'O,  nee  de  Guilleragues,  who  was 
the  Duchess  of  Burgundy's  Dame  du  Palais  ;  Marquise 
d'Hudicourt.  n^e  Pons;  her  daughter,  Madame  de 
Montgon;  the  Marquise  de  Dangeau;  Madame  de  St 
G^ran;  and  Madame  de  Maintenon's  two  nieces,  the 
Duchesse  de  Noailles,  nee  d'Aubigne,  and  Madame  de 
Caylus,  n^e  Villette. 

Of  these  ladies  two  of  the  best  known  were  the 
Marquise  de  Dangeau  and  the  Marquise  d'Hudicourt, 
who  had  been  Barbe  de  Pons,  Marshal  d'Albret's  niece- 
she  had  lent  the  wedding  dress  worn  by  Francois  d'Aubigne 
when  she  became  Madame  Scarron.  Madame  de  Main- 
tenon  assisted  at  the  wedding  of  Mademoiselle  Pons,  and 
wrote  to  her  brother,  Charles  d'Aubigne,  January  1766, 
Saturday,  midnight: — 

'*  It  is  true  that  Mademoiselle  de  Pons  is  to  be  married 
and  I  have  the  joy  of  knowing  that  I  helped  to  make  the 
marriage— I  am  going  to  escort  her  to  Hudicourt." 

Madame  d'Hudicourt's  daughter,  Madame  de  Montgon, 
lived  with  Madame  de  Maintenon  when  she  first  took 


From  an  fngraviug  in  tkf  Hritish  Museum 


i|j 


234  MADAME  DE  MAINTENON 

charge  of  the  King's  children  and  shared  the  cares  bestowed 

on  them. 

Madame  de  Maintenon  never  forgot  an  old  friend,  and 
though  Madame  d'Hudicourt's  eccentric  disposition  was 
very  different  from  her  own,  she  always  treated  her  with 
great  indulgence,  but  said :  "  Though  I  always  laugh  at 
Madame  d'Hudicourt's  saUies  I  never  remember  to  have 
heard  her  say  anything  that  I  myself  should  wish  to  have 

said."  1 

The  Marquise  de  Dangeau,  n^e  Mademoiselle  de 
Lowenstein  of  Bavaria,  was  of  the  Palatine  family, 
but  one  of  her  ancestors  having  espoused  a  lady  not 
of  royal  birth,   the  descendants  could  not  take  rank  as 

royalties. 

Mademoiselle  de  Lowenstein's  mother  was  sister  to 
Cardinal  Prince  Furstenberg.  He  was  imprisoned  on 
account  of  having  taken  the  side  of  France  in  the  war, 
and  on  being  released  came  to  France,  bringing  with  him 
his  youngest  niece,  whose  beauty,  joined  to  the  figure  of 
a  nymph— as  well  as  a  flame-coloured  ribbon  which  she 
^ore— attracted  great  attention.  She  wore  this  ribbon 
as  Canoness  of  the  Chapter  of  Thurm,  which  dignity 
entitled  her  to  be  addressed  as  Madame. 

She  was  married  in  1686  to  the  Marquis  de  Dangeau, 
Governor  of  Touraine,  Councillor  of  State  and  Gentleman- 
in-Waiting  to  the  Duchess  of  Burgundy. 

Her  prudence  and  virtue  were  as  admirable  as  her 
beauty.  The  reputation  of  Madame  de  Dangeau  was 
never  attacked  though  she  had  beauty  and  charm  and 
enjoyed  Court  favour  to  a  degree  that  usually  excites  envy 
and  malice.     There  was  a  certain  spirituality  and  air  of 

1  In  "  Collection  des  Dames  de  St  Cyr." 


INNER  CIRCLE  OF  MME.  DE  MAINTENON     235 

detachment  about  her  that  seemed  to  place  her  above 
detraction. 

She  remained  an  intimate  friend  of  Madame  de 
Maintenon  up  to  the  time  of  her  death,  and  was  one  of  the 
few  admitted  to  visit  Madame  de  Maintenon  after  her 
retirement  to  St  Cyr. 

Many  charming  letters  have  been  preserved  addressed 
to  her  by  Madame  de  Maintenon.  The  following  are 
specimens : — 

*'  If  you  are  quite  well,  if  you  have  not  made  arrange- 
ments for  your  day,  if  the  Duchess  of  Burgundy  does  not 
need  you,  if  you  do  not  disUke  singing,  if  it  does  not  rain, 
if  you  would  like  to  pray  in  the  open  air,  to  take  a  turn 
in  the  gardens,  if  you  still  like  St  Cyr,  if  you  are  not 
tired  of  making  the  delight  of  my  life,  if  to  value  you 
rightly  gives  a  right  to  enjoy  your  company,  you  will 
come  in  my  coach  which  is  taking  Madame  Petit  back  to 
Versailles." 

After  the  death  of  Louis  XIV.  the  Marquis  de  Dangeau 
retired  from  Court.  His  wife  wished  to  turn  him  into  a 
hermit,  and  herself  into  a  nun,  and  was  troubled  by  her 
want  of  success.  Madame  de  Maintenon's  sound  sense 
disapproved  of  this,  and  she  wrote  to  Madame  de 
Dangeau : — 

*'  As  long  as  M.  de  Dangeau  lives  you  cannot  change 
your  mode  of  life.  It  is  well  that  your  life  is  not  to 
your  mind — that  is  the  state  God  wishes  us  to  be  in. 
You  would  like  to  lead  a  regular  Hfe,  like  a  Trappist,  but 
it  is  the  Will  of  God  that  you  should  live  in  comfortable 
circumstances  but  at  the  same  time  suffer  the  annoy- 
ances that  are  inevitable  in  the  best  of  famiHes.  You 
would  like  to  be  teaching  the  catechism  at  Avon,  but 
God  wishes  you  to  practise  the  Christian  virtues  yourself, 
instead  of  teaching  them  to  others.     He  wishes  you  to 


I 


236 


MADAME  DE  MAINTENON 


amuse  an  infirm  husband,  and  to  influence  your 
children  to  keep  to  the  right  path,  and  you  ought  to 
work  peacefully  and  tranquilly  at  the  task  He  gives  to 
you." 

M.  de  Dangeau  occupied  himself  with  writing  Memoirs 
of  the  Court  of  Louis  XIV.  They  are  some  of  the  most 
rehable  that  have  been  composed,  being  written  in  the 
lifetime  of  Madame  de  Maintenon,  who  read  them  while 
they  were  in  course  of  composition,  criticised  any  state- 
ments she  considered  inaccurate,  and  furnished  him  with 
information  on  points  over  which  he  was  doubtful. 

The  Duchesse  de  Noailles  has  been  fully  treated  of  in 
the  chapter  headed  *'  Madame  de  Maintenon's  Relations.** 
Of  her  other  niece,  Madame  de  Caylus,  a  somewhat  detailed 
account  must  be  given,  for  she  was  such  a  very  prominent 
figure  in  Madame  de  Maintenon's  circle  from  the  early 
days  at  Versailles  to  the  days  of  her  retirement  at  St  Cyr, 
and  indeed  till  death. 

Marthe,  Marguerite,  Hippolite  de  Valois  de  Villette, 
Mademoiselle  de  Mursay,  was  the  daughter  of  the  Marquis 
de  Villette,  who  was  the  son  of  Madame  de  Villette,  sister 
of  Madame  de  Maintenon's  father.  She  was  bom  at 
Mursay,  and  baptised  at  Niort,  14th  April  1671.  She  was 
always  called  Madame  de  Maintenon's  niece,  for  the 
children  of  cousins  were  reckoned  as  nieces  a  la  mode  de 
Bretagne,  In  a  previous  chapter  the  circumstances  under 
which  Madame  de  Maintenon  practically  adopted  her  have 
been  told,  and  in  educating  her  nothing  was  omitted  that 
could  form  her  judgment  and  cultivate  her  mind.  She 
was  very  pretty  and  charming,  and  her  aunt  had  many 
apphcations  for  her  hand,  but  refused  several  splendid 
marriages  on  the  ground  that  they  were  above  her  pre- 


INNER  CIRCLE  OF  MME.  DE  MAINTENON     237 

tentions,! — and  then  most  unaccountably  chose  for  her  a 
most  undesirable  husband,  Jean  Aim6  de  Tubieres,  Comte 
de  Caylus.  He  was  of  an  ancient  family,  but  had  nothing 
to  recommend  him,  neither  wealth  nor  character.  He  was 
much  older  than  his  bride,  and  turned  out  to  be  a  drunkard, 
hlase,  and  of  a  violent  temper  that  caused  his  wife  much 
unhappiness. 

The  marriage  took  place  in  the  chapel  at  Versailles  and 
the  King  gave  the  bride  a  handsome  dowry. 

Madame  de  Maintenon  tried  to  reform  the  Comte  de 
Calyus,  but  persuasion  having  failed,  stronger  measures 
were  necessary,  for  he  spent  everything  and  left  his  wife 
without  money  or  clothes.  He  was  sent  to  rejoin  his 
regiment  and  ordered  to  remain  with  the  army  and  never  to 
approach  his  wife,  who  took  up  her  residence  at  Court,  under 
her  aunt's  protection.  But  as  she  was  only  twenty  years 
old  she  needed  more  chaperonage  than  Madame  de  Main- 
tenon had  time  to  give,  and  the  task  was  relegated  to 
Madame  de  Maintenon's  great  friend,  Madame  de  Mont- 
chevrueil.  She  has  been  described  as  "  one  of  those 
persons  whom  the  devil  sends  into  the  world  to  disgust 
people  with  virtue."  ^  She  had  a  most  repellant  appear- 
ance and  even  Madame  de  Maintenon  reproached  her  with 
being  devout  in  a  manner  that  made  others  disinclined  to 
religion. 

Madame  de  Montchevrueil's  task  as  Superintendent  of 
the  Maids-of-Honour  of  the  Dauphiness  was  easy  compared 
to  that  of  taking  care  of  Madame  de  Caylus,  whose  beauty, 
charm  and  wit  made  her  greatly  sought  after. 

*  This  was  an  inconsistency — for  Madame  de  Maintenon  did  not 
refuse  a  great  marriage  for  her  other  niece.  Mademoiselle  d'Aubign6, 
who  became  Duchesse  de  Noailles. 

'  Vide  St  Simon's  Memoirs. 


■i  ^ 


238 


MADAME  DE  MAINTENON 


"  There  was  never  a  more  seductive  creature,"  says  St 
Simon.  "  Such  a  spiritual  face,  so  expressive,  so  touching, 
such  freshness,  grace,  gaiety,  and  wit  as  she  possessed 
were  unique."  She  had  also  a  most  dehcious  voice,  her 
acting  at  St  Cyr  was  pronounced   "  too  good,"   "  too 

touching." 

Madame  de  Caylus  was  the  most  brilliant  ornament  of 
the  Court  from  1689  to  1696,  when  she  fell  into  disgrace. 

In  her  Souvenirs  she  says  that  some  letters  addressed 
to  her,  ridiculing  Madame  de  Montchevrueil  and  others  of 
Madame  de  Maintenon's  immediate  circle,  fell  into  the 
King's  hands  and  were  the  cause  of  her  disgrace  ;  but  the 
real  reason  was  that  she  carried  too  far,  or  carried  on  too 
openly,  a  liaison  with  the  Due  de  Villeroy,  son  of  Mar6chal 

Villeroy. 

The  Due  de  Villeroy  had  married  a  daughter  of  Louvois. 

He  was  impUcated  in  the  disgrace  which  fell  on  some  young 
noblemen  with  whom  he  went  to  fight  against  the  Turks  in 
Hungary.  They  sent  to  the  companions  left  behind  in 
France  letters  speaking  in  disrespectful  terms  of  the  King 
and  Madame  de  Maintenon,  and  the  letters  fell  into  the 
King's  hands  by  mistake.  Villeroy's  letters,  fortunately 
for  him,  were  some  of  the  least  offensive — and  though  not 
allowed  to  appear  at  Court  for  some  time,  he  was  at  length 
forgiven  for  his  father's  sake. 

Madame  de  Caylus  seems  to  have  got  into  a  dissipated 
set,  and  after  some  escapades,  which  made  a  noise  at  Court, 
but  the  details  of  which  are  uncertain,  she  was  dismissed 
from  Versailles.  She  took  up  her  abode  in  a  house  in  the 
Rue  Vaugirard,  where  she  had  passed  the  early  days  of  her 
married  hfe.  Here  she  entertained  a  great  deal,  gave 
suppers  and  card  parties,  at  which  Villeroy  was  generally 


INNER  CIRCLE  OF  MME.  DE  MAINTENON      239 

to  be  seen.  She  was  always  surrounded  by  friends  and 
admirers,  one  of  whom  said  :  "It  was  difficult  to  be  in 
her  company  without  becoming  either  her  friend  or  her 
lover." 

Another  said :  "  She  was  the  perfection  of  what  is  meant 
by  the  word  '  urbanity.' 

But  one  who  had  been  brought  up  by  Madame  de  Main- 
tenon,  and  breathed  the  air  of  St  Cyr,  could  not  live  such 
a  life  without  qualms  of  conscience. 

It  was  the  age  of  the  great  Directors  of  Souls,*  and 
Madame  de  Caylus  came  under  the  influence  of  one  of  them, 
Father  de  la  Tour,  a  man  of  good  family  who  understood 
the  world  to  which  Madame  de  Caylus  belonged,  and  by 
degrees  he  persuaded  her  to  give  up  play,  the  pleasures  of 
the  table  to  which  she  was  addicted,  the  company  of  un- 
principled acquaintances,  and,  what  must  have  been  more 
difficult,  that  of  Villeroy. 

Her  conversion  was  sincere  and  lasting. 

In  1699  permission  to  return  to  Court  was  given  to  her, 
but  she  refused  to  avail  herself  of  it. 

In  1705  the  King  raised  her  pension  from  6000  to  10,000 
francs.  This  favour  was  Conferred  on  condition  that  she 
should  give  up  her  confessor,  who  was  suspected  of  Jan- 
senism, a  creed  abhorred  at  Court,  and  take  a  more  ortho- 
dox one. 

She  did  so  with  his  consent  and  acquiescence. 

It  was  not,  however,  till  the  death  of  Comte  de  Caylus, 
which  occurred  at  Brussels,  1704  ^ — an  event  which  St 

*  Father  Confessors. 

^  It  was  somewhat  pecuUar  that  it  fell  to  the  lot  of  the  Due  de  Villeroy 
and  his  father,  the  Mar^chal,  who  was  commanding  the  army  in  Flanders, 
to  be  present  at  his  deathbed  and  to  do  for  him  all  that  could  be  done 
for  a  dying  man,  and  they  attended  his  funeral. 


240 


MADAME  DE  MAINTENON 


Simon  said  caused  universal  delight — that  the  aunt  and 
niece  resumed  intimate  relations. 

Madame  de  Maintenon  wrote  her  letters  containing  good 
advice,  advised  her  not  to  remarry  but  to  devote  herself  to 
her  children.  She  also  gave  her  commissions  to  execute  at 
shops.  Madame  de  Caylus  did  not  reappear  at  Court  till 
her  time  of  mourning  was  over,  1707. 

Madame  de  Maintenon,  after  some  demur  and  acting  on 
the  advice  of  the  Princesse  de  Ursins,  again  obtained  for  her 
an  apartment  at  Versailles. 

Madame  de  Caylus  felt  uncertain  how  she  would  be  re- 
ceived, but  the  King  greeted  her  affably  and  one  day  took 
her  in  his  carriage  to  Trianon  and  did  the  honours  himself, 
escorting  her  around  the  grounds.  This  was  enough  to  re- 
establish her  position  at  Court  completely. 

At  this  time  she  was  thirty-six  years  of  age.  Her  face 
was  still  beautiful,  but  she  had  lost  her  figure  and  become 
stout.  She  assumed  the  airs  of  a  person  older  than  she 
really  was,  but  her  wit  and  charm  were  unimpaired.  She 
was  a  great  favourite  with  the  King,  and  her  relations  with 
her  aunt  became  even  more  intimate  and  affectionate,  and 
sometimes  Madame  de  Maintenon  took  refuge  in  her  niece's 
room,  and  "let  herself  go"  when  Court  restraint  had 
become  unbearable. 

The  palace  of  Versailles  was  a  little  town  and  as  the 
King  and  his  Ministers  were  often  in  Madame  de  Main- 
tenon's  room,  her  niece  could  not  always  be  admitted  and 
a  correspondence  was  carried  on  of  which  many  letters  have 
been  preserved  and  let  us  see  these  ladies  as  they  really 

were. 

Madame  de  Caylus's  sons  were  causing  her  anxiety  and 
she  wished  to  have  them  with  her  more  than  was  possible 


INNER  CIRCLE  OF  MME.  DE  MAINTENON     241 

at  Court,  so  a  year  before  the  King's  death  the  Duchesse  de 
Berry  gave  her  an  apartment  in  the  Luxembourg,  of  which 
she  sent  the  following  description  to  her  aunt : — 

"  My  abode  is  convenient,  pretty  and  isolated,  so  that 
I  am  never  conscious  of  having  neighbours. 

"  In  the  early  morning  I  hear  the  crowing  of  cocks  and 
the  bells  of  the  Httle  convents  calling  the  faithful  to 
prayer.  It  is  a  pleasure  to  get  up.  I  look  out  of  the 
window  and  survey  my  domains  and  my  subjects,  twelve 
hens,  one  cock,  eight  newly-hatched  chickens  and  a  cow 
— all  these  I  am  proud  to  see  under  my  rule. 

"  I  rise  at  eight  o'clock — I  say  prayers  in  bed — read 
and  breakfast,  when  I  am  well  enough  I  go  to  Mass  and 
when  I  return  I  write  and  attend  to  my  affairs.  I  dine 
or  sup  alone  or  with  my  son.  After  dinner  we  play  tric- 
trac or  I  talk  with  him,  or  sew  while  he  reads  aloud.  At 
four  or  five  o'clock  visitors  arrive — sometimes  too  many. 
By  eight  o'clock  they  are  all  gone  and  I  am  alone." 

Of  her  two  sons,  the  eldest,  spoken  of  as  the  "  Philo- 
sopher," had  been  in  the  army,  but  got  tired  of  it  and 
resigned  his  commission.  He  became  a  collector  of 
antiquities  and  a  member  of  the  Academy  of  Inscriptions, 
and  was  somewhat  eccentric  in  dress. 

The  other  one,  Brindi,  was  a  naval  officer.  He  was 
always  called  "  the  Chevalier."  He  was  "  wild  "  and  gave 
trouble,  but  always  a  favourite  with  Madame  de  Maintenon, 
who,  in  a  letter  to  his  mother,  says  : — 

"  You  know  I  have  always  had  a  Hking  for '  the  Cheva- 
Her.'  I  am  never  angry  with  scapegraces  unless  they  go 
so  far  as  real  vice,  or  dishonourable  conduct." 

Brindi  never  went  that  far,  but  had  to  be  sent  back  to 
his  post  in  the  navy. 
An    even    more    important   member   of    Madame   de 

Maintenon's  inner  circle,  who  saw  more  of  the  private  life 
p 


• 


11 


1:1 


242  MADAME  DE  MAINTENON 

and  intimate  relationship  of  Louis  XIV.  and  Madame  de 
Maintenon  than  anyone  else,  washersecretary,  Mademoiselle 
d'Aumale.  After  her  marriage  Madame  de  Maintenon 
always  had  one  of  the  young  ladies  who  had  been  educated 
at  St  Cyr  to  reside  with  her  and  act  as  secretary.  It  was  a 
post  much  sought  after,  as  Madame  de  Maintenon  generally 
contrived  a  good  marriage  for  the  young  ladies  who  filled  it. 

As  no  one  was  admitted  as  a  pupil  at  St  Cyr  unless  she 
could  prove  four  generations  of  nobility,  it  is  needless  to 
say  that  Mademoiselle  d'Aumale  was  well  bom. 

Marie  Jeanne  d'Aumale  was  the  sixth  child  of  Jacques 
d'Aumale,  Seigneur  of  Mareuil  in  Piccardy.  She  was  bom 
at  Vergie,  1683.  She  was  so  much  esteemed  at  St  Cyr  that 
when  she  attained  the  age  of  twenty,  and  the  time  had  come 
for  her  to  leave,  the  Bishop  of  Chartres  consented  to  accede 
to  the  request  of  the  ladies  of  the  community  that  she 
might  stay  on  "  to  help  with  the  classes." 

It  was  in  1705  that,  having  married  Mademoiselle 
d'Osmond  (the  young  lady  who  had  recently  filled  the  post) 
to  the  Marquis  d'Havrincourt,  Madame  de  Maintenon 
was  in  want  of  a  secretary  ^  and  chose  Mademoiselle 
d'Aumale,  who  became  not  only  a  secretciry  but  a  general 
factotum,  as  well  as  tmsted  friend. 

Writing  to  one  of  the  ladies  of  St  Cyr,  she  herself  said, 
as  an  excuse  for  a  short  letter  : — 

"  The  occupations  of  an  embroideress,  an  actress,  a 
secretary,  a  farm-mistress,  a  superintendent  of  schools 
and  an  almoner  leave  me  little  time  to  write." 

Mademoiselle  d'Aumale  was  not  pretty,  but  Madame  de 

*  Her  correspondence  was  enormous.  Four  thousand  of  her  letters 
have  been  given  to  the  world,  and  there  are  still  a  great  many  that  have 
not  been  published. 


INNER  CIRCLE  OF  MME.  DE  MAINTENON     243 

Maintenon  said  of  her :  "  She  is  very  intelligent  and  as 
capable  of  intellectual  work  as  of  attending  to  household 
matters.  I  had  her  taught  cooking  and  she  succeeded  as 
well  in  boiling  rice  as  in  playing  the  piano." 

She  had  musical  talent  and  a  fine  voice. 

Having  reformed  Louis  XIV.  it  was  very  necessary  to 
keep  him  interested  and  amused — for  Madame  de 
Maintenon  said  :  "  If  he  is  bored  in  my  society  he  will  go 
elsewhere.  Her  Majesty  the  late  Queen  would  never  have 
lost  her  hold  on  his  affections  had  not  a  misdirected  zeal 
often  led  her  to  occupy  herself  in  performing  her  devotions 
in  chapel  when  the  King  wished  for  her  society." 

Louis  XIV.  was  devoted  to  music  and  took  pains  to 
bring  his  private  band  to  perfection.  At  the  age  of  sixty 
he  took  part  in  a  chorus — for  though  Madame  de  Maintenon 
herself  was  not  musical  she  got  up  concerts  in  her  apart- 
ments for  his  benefit,  and  at  these  Mademoiselle  d'Aumale's 
talents  were  turned  to  good  account.  The  King  liked  also 
to  listen  to  her  singing  when  there  was  no  company,  and 
she  would  sometimes  sing  to  him  for  an  hour  or  two  at  a 
time.  Her  choice  of  songs  is  rather  remarkable.  Drink- 
ing songs  seem  to  have  been  the  King's  favourites.  One, 
beginning  : 


it 


Vive  Bacchus  !   Vive  Gregoire  ! 

A  tons  les  deux  honneur  sans  fin, 
Vive  Gregoire  !  pour  nous  verser  aboire," 


is  mentioned  as  being  frequently  called  for. 

When  one  conjures  up  the  scene,  the  staid  and  dignified 
Madame  de  Maintenon  sitting  knitting  in  her  "  niche," 
the  King  in  the  arm-chair  opposite,  the  convent-bred 
secretary  at  the  clavecin,  the  idea  of  these  bacchanalian 


i 


Hi 


244 


MADAME  DE  MAINTENON 


strains  resounding  through  the  room  presents  itself  in  a 
somewhat  comical  Hght. 

However,  at  other  times  we  hear  of  Mademoiselle 
d'Aumale  chanting  Vespers,  according  to  the  fashion  of  St 
Cyr,  and  the  King  chanting  the  alternate  verses  :  a  per- 
formance somewhat  more  in  keeping  with  the  atmosphere 
that  generally  surrounded  Madame  de  Maintenon. 

Mademoiselle  d'Aumale  hved  at  Court  for  ten  years — 
highly  esteemed  by  the  King  and  all  who  came  in  contact 
with  her.  She  was  safe  and  discreet,  always  at  her  post — 
taking  no  part  in  intrigues,  and  making  no  effort  to  appear 
a  Court  lady  or  to  share  in  amusements  which  were  not 
suitable  to  her  position.  She  refused  several  marriages 
that  could  have  been  arranged  for  her,  not  wishing  to 
leave  Madame  de  Maintenon,  with  reference  to  whom  she 
wrote: 

"  My  attachment  to  Madame  increases  daily.  I 
amuse  her  when  I  can,  I  know  neither  joy  nor  sadness 
but  hers." 


-ouuf  ^itcjo  QdmirqqqnjL) 

From  an  engraving  in  the  British  Museum 


CHAPTER   XXII 


THE  COURT  AND  THE  WAR 


WHEN  Louis  XIV.  started  on  the  campaign  in 
Flanders,  a.d.  1691^  Madame  de  Maintenon 
did  not  accompany  him,  but  retired  to 
St  Cyr. 

The  King,  on  the  point  of  departure,  came  there  to  wish 
her  good-bye,  and  stayed  two  hours,  talking  with  her. 
He  then  went  into  the  church,  where  the  Community  had 
assembled. 

"  Mesdames,"  he  said,  addressing  them,  "  I  commend 
myself  to  your  prayers.  To  be  a  King  is  to  be  in  a  position 
that  exposes  one  to  the  dangers  of  falling  into  many  sins. 
Madame  remains  with  you,  and  in  leaving  her,  I  leave  with 
you  what  is  dearest  to  me  on  earth,"  he  concluded  in  tones 
of  emotion  and  with  tears  in  his  eyes. 

"  Sire,"  replied  the  Superior,  "  we  shall  redouble  bur 
prayers  that  the  Most  High  may  give  you  the  victory." 

"  Not  so  much  victory  as  peace  is  what  we  need.  We 
must  try  to  make  our  enemies  demand  it,"  said  the 
King. 

Madame  de  Maintenon's  Confessor,  the  Abbe  Gobelin, 
wrote  as  follows  : — 

"  There  has  never  been  a  more  legitimate  grief  than 
yours,  Madame.     All  Paris,  which  has  its  eyes  on  you, 

*  France  was  in  the  field  against  the  Germanic  States,  England  and 
Holland. 

a45 


246 


MADAME  DE  MAINTENON 


is  the  more  edified  because  people  are  persuaded 
that  it  only  rested  with  you  to  save  yourself  from 
it."  1 


Couriers  from  the  seat  of  war  reached  Madame  de 
Maintenon  daily,  and  she  did  not  fail  to  communicate  to 
the  exiled  King  of  England,^  the  tidings  they  brought. 
He  frequently  visited  her.  His  chance  of  regaining  his 
kingdom  depended  on  the  issue  of  the  war. 

Louis  XIV.  exposed  his  hfe  at  the  siege  of  Mons,  which 
capitulated  after  fifteen  days.  On  his  return  the 
princesses  and  Madame  de  Maintenon  went  as  far  as 
Compiegne  to  meet  him. 

In  the  spring  of  1692  a.d.  the  King,  wishing  to  anticipate 
the  Prince  of  Orange,  decided  to  undertake  the  siege  of 
Namur  in  person.  The  Court  accompanied  him.  His 
daughters,  the  Princesse  de  Conti  and  the  Duchesse  de 
Bourbon-Conde,  and  also  the  Princesse  d'Harcourt, 
travelled  in  the  King's  coach.  Madame  de  Maintenon, 
accompanied  only  by  Mademoiselle  de  Casteja,  went  in  the 
King's  hunting  caleche.  On  account  of  the  poverty  of  the 
kingdom,  the  usual  magnificent  retinue  was  absent  on  this 
occasion.  The  royal  party  dined  in  the  carriages  with 
only  a  board  covered  with  a  white  cloth  as  dinner  table. 
The  example  of  the  King  made  the  officers  afraid  to  display 
the  luxury  of  former  campaigns,  and  hindered  the  nobihty 
from  ruining  themselves  by  the  magnificence  of  their 
equipment. 

Madame  de  Maintenon  wrote  as  follows  to  Madame  de 
Fontaines,  Superior  of  St  Cyr  : — 

*  The    King    would    not    have    joined    the   campaign    against   her 
wishes. 

*  James  II. 


THE  COURT  AND  THE  WAR 


247 


Mauberge,  24th  May  1692. 

"  The  King  has  ordered  us  to  remain  here  two  days, 
in  order  to  give  everybody  time  to  make  their  Easter 
devotions  ;   he  thinks  of  everything  as  you  see,  for  he 
sent  this  order  from  the  Camp.     He  understands  how  to 
be  at  the  same  time  a  hero  and  a  Christian.     Please  tell 
Madame  de  Veilhant  that  the  Seige  of  Namur  is  more 
important  than  that  of  Mons.     The  King  is  making  the 
attack  with  between  Forty  and  Fifty  thousand  men ;  M. 
de  Luxembourg  has  80,000  to  oppose  the  Prince  of 
Orange's  force,  if  he  attempts  to  interfere  with  the  King's 
plans.    Tell  her  I  have  seen  all  these  men  with  my  own 
eyes,  and  that  her  spirit  is  not  more  warlike  than  theirs. 
On  leaving  this  place  we  shall  go  to  Phillipsburg,  which 
will  be  only  six  leagues  from  where  the  King  is  :  he  is 
in  perfect  health  and  the  whole  army  is  enchanted  with 
his  kindness,  affability  and  accessibility,  and  with  his 
continuous  application  to  business." 

To  Madame  de  Veilhant,  May  1692. 

*'  Imagine,  Madame,  that  yesterday,  after  having 
travelled  six  hours  on  a  fairly  good  road,  we  saw  a 
Castle,  built  on  a  rock,  where  it  was  thought  we  might 
get  a  lodging.  No  road  to  it  was  discernible,  then  we 
descried  in  an  abyss  at  the  foot  of  the  rock,  the  roofs  of 
a  number  of  little  houses,  that  looked  like  dolls'  houses. 
It  was  necessary  to  descend  by  a  horrible  road,  and  the 
coaches  bounded  about  enough  to  break  all  the  springs  ; 
the  ladies  held  on  to  anything  they  could.  After  a  quarter 
of  an  hour's  terror  we  came  suddenly  upon  the  village  of 
Dinant,  composed  of  one  street,  called  La  Grande, 
though  two  coaches  could  not  pass  one  another  in  it.  The 
water  is  bad,  wine  rare,  and  the  bakers  have  orders  to 
supply  the  army  only,  and  let  everyone  else  starve.  They 
welcomed  us  with  some  very  bad  music  and  so  much  in- 
cense, that  we  were  nearly  blinded.  The  Siege  of  Namur 
goes  on  very  well,  few  lives  have  been  lost  on  our  side  at 
present.  I  am  not  sorry  that  the  King  is  kept  in  his 
tent  by  an  attack  of  gout.  We  hear  the  cannons  roar 
and  fear  that  each  shot  will  carry  off  some  of  our  friends. 


248 


MADAME  DE  MAINTENON 


THE  COURT  AND  THE  WAR 


249 


Except  for  that,  I  am  well  satisfied,  being  one  of  the  best 
lodged  and  well  served.  If  I  could  conscientiously  wish 
a  nun  to  be  anywhere  but  in  her  convent  I  should  like 
you  to  see  all  I  am  seeing,  and  if  one  could  exchange 
dispositions,!  should  wish  to  change  mine  for  yours,  which 
makes  you  like  guns  and  gunpowder.  You  would  be 
delighted  to  smell  nothing  but  tobacco,  to  hear  nothing 
but  drums,  to  eat  nothing  but  cheese,  to  see  nothing  but 
bastions  and  fortifications,  to  touch  nothing  that  is  with- 
out that  roughness  or  dirtiness  which  is  so  repugnant  to 
the  sensitiveness  which  your  courage  and  strength  of 
mind  enables  you  to  overcome.  For  myself,  who  am, 
alas !  very  feminine  in  my  taste,  I  would  gladly  give  you 
my  place,  and  take  yours  and  sit  and  work  with  the  dear 
ladies  of  St  Cyr.  I  hope  this  pleasure  will  not  be  long 
deferred  and  that  Namur  will  capitulate  without  waiting 
to  be  utterly  ruined." 

The  princesses  and  their  suites  were  left  at  Dinant,  but 
Madame  de  Maintenon  went  on  with  the  King  to  the  camp, 
and  visited  the  officers  in  their  tents.  They  received  her 
with  every  mark  of  respect,  and  by  the  King's  desire  she 
gave  her  hand  to  be  kissed  in  Royal  fashion.^ 

The  King  sent  refreshments  to  the  Dauphin's  regiment 
which  had  gained  the  Fort  of  la  Cassote,  sword  in  hand. 
Madame  de  Maintenon  arriving  with  her  suite  saw  with 
what  appetite  the  men  were  enjoying  this  good  meal.  She 
visited  all  the  tents  and  invited  the  inmates  to  a  collation 
next  day  at  the  King's  quarters. 

Everyone  responded  and  on  arrival  received  a  card  on 
which  was  written  :  "  A  I'Abbaye  de  Salsins."  This  was  a 
convent  for  ladies  of  noble  birth  ;  it  was  not  far  off.  As  a 
rule  no  man,  even  the  greatest,  was  allowed  to  enter,  but 
Madame  de  Maintenon  had  obtained  permission  to  prepare 

*  This  is  mentioned  by  her  cousin,  the  Marquis  de  Langalerie,  in  his 
Memoirs.     He  was  present. 


a  collation  for  the  soldiers,  and  the  Court  ladies  waited  on 
the  guests  at  table.  On  arriving  each  inviU  went  to 
make  his  bow  to  Madame  de  Maintenon,  and  kissed  her 
hand.  Full  justice  was  done  to  the  good  fare  provided, 
especially  a  deHcious  hqueur  called  "  Ratafia  de  Salsins," 
prepared  by  the  nuns. 

The  King  and  Monseigneur  looked  in  on  the  entertain- 
ment and  both  were  much  pleased  at  Madame  de  Main- 
tenon's  care  of  the  troops. 

Some  of  the  ladies  of  the  province  had  taken^refuge 
in  Namur,  but,  wishing  to  retreat  before  the  siege  began, 
they  came  out  on  foot,  accompanied  only  by  their 
children  and  a  few  women  servants.  They  demanded 
safe  conduct  from  Louis  XIV.  He  took  pity  on  them 
and  sent  them  to  Dinant  under  escort.  Madame  de 
Maintenon  was  much  touched  by  their  distress.  She  talked 
to  and  tried  to  comfort  them,  and  collected  a  sum  of  money 
among  the  Court  and  officers  to  alleviate  their  wants. 

After  the  successful  termination  of  the  siege  of  Namur  the 
royal  party  returned  to  Versailles  ;  the  King  having  de- 
monstrated to  his  detractors  that  he  was  not  merely  a 
"  tinsel  king,''  nor  '*  a  carpet  Knight,"  as  some  of  the 
younger  nobles  had  described  him,  in  letters  that  fell  into 
his  hands. 

The  following  year,  1693,  he  was  present  at  the  siege  of 
Li^ge,  and  that  was  the  last  time  he  ever  went  to  the 
front. 

During  the  war  of  the  Spanish  Succession,^  from  1701 
to  1713,  the  fortunes  of  France  reached  their  lowest  ebb. 

*  The  King  of  Spain  made  a  will  leaving  his  possessions  to  hi3 
cousin,  the  Duke  of  Anjou,  grandson  of  Louis  XIV.,  who  supported  his 
pretensions.  Austria  laid  claim  to  the  inheritance  and  was  supported 
by  England  and  Holland. 


MADAME  DE  MAINTENON 


THE  COURT  AND  THE  WAR 


250 


MADAME  DE  MAINTENON 


■.'J 
iif 


The  renowned  French  generals,  Conde,  Luxembourg, 
and  Turenne,  were  dead.  When  Turenne  died  it  was 
thought  necessary  to  appoint  eight  generals  in  his  place, 
and  they  were  known  as  '*  Change  for  M.  de  Turenne." 

The  following  is  Madame  de  Maintenon's  letter  to 
Madame  des  Ursins,  8th  May  1707,  on  a  victory  gained  by 
the  French  troops  in  Spain : — 

'[  It  is  very  right  to  thank  the  God  of  battles  for  that 
which  He  has  enabled  us  to  gain  and  you  have  so  well 
understood  the  joy  of  the  King  and  all  the  Royal 
Family  that  I  cannot  refrain  from  communicating  the 
particulars  to  you. 

"  You  know  Marly  and  my  apartment ;  the  King  was 
alone  in  my  little  room,  and  I  was  sitting  down  to  table  in 
my  closet,  through  which  it  was  necessary  to  pass  ;  an 
officer  of  the  guards  cried  out  at  the  door,  *  Here  is 
M.  de  Chamillard.'  ^ 

"  The  King  answered,  '  What !    he  himself  ?  ' 

"  I  threw  down  my  napkin  much  excited.  M.  de 
Chamillard  entered  immediately,  followed  by  M.  de 
Silly  ;  you  may  well  imagine  that  I  also  went  in.  I  then 
heard  of  the  defeat  of  the  enemy's  army,  and  returned  to 
sup  in  very  good  humour.  The  Dauphin,  who  was 
playing  billiards  in  the  salon,  soon  joined  the  King,  and 
the  Duke  of  Burgundy  entered  with  a  billiard  mace  in 
his  hand.  Madame,  to  whom  a  message  had  been 
despatched  with  the  news  that  the  Due  d'Orleans' 
army  had  gained  a  battle,  soon  arrived.  I  told  her 
he  was  not  present  at  the  battle,  at  which  she  was  very 
angry  and  said  :  '  I  shall  soon  hear  that  my  son  has 
hanged  himself.'  ..." 

The  Princesse  des  Ursins  was  lady-in-waiting  to  the 
Queen  of  Spain,  wife  of  Louis  XIV. 's  grandson,  and  was 
practically  the  agent  for  French  interests  at  the  Court  of 
Spain,  having  gained  unlimited  influence  over  the  young 

*  War  Minister. 


THE  COURT  AND  THE  WAR  251 

King,  Philip  IV.,  and  the  Queen,  who  was  sister  to  the 
Duchess  of  Burgundy.  She  replied  as  follows  to  the 
above  letter : — 

"  All  that  you  describe  to  me,  from  the  moment  when 
the  Officer  announced  M.  de  Chamillard,  seems  so  natural 
that  I  imagined  seeing  you  throw  down  your  napkin,  and 
hasten  to  hear  the  great  news :    Madame  de  Dangeau 
posting  off  to  write  to  her  husband  ;  Madame  de  Hudi- 
court  walking  about  as  if  she  had  good  legs,  scarcely 
knowing  what  she  was  doing  ;  M.  de  Marsan  jumpmg  on 
a  chair,  to  show  his  agility  in  spite  of  the  gout.  As  for  the 
Duke  of  Burgundy,  who  is  I  believe  occasionally  absent- 
minded,  I  am  astonished  that  he  did  not  in  the  first 
moments  of  his  joy  take  some  lady  for  a  bilhard  ball  and 
hit  her  with  the  queue  which  he  had  in  his  hand.     In 
short  I  have  no  difficulty  in  believing  that  all  France 
was  delighted  with  such  an  advantageous  victory  ^ovm^ 
two  Kings,  which  consolidates  the  throne  of  his  Catholic 
Majesty." 

Madame  de  Maintenon  to  Madame  de  Caylus,  1706  : 

*'  You  are  playing  the  part  of  the  devil  in  tempting  me 
with  such  exquisite  stuffs  for  a  dress.  The  misery  I 
know  of  makes  me  parsimonious.  But  the  battle  gained 
in  Italy  determines  me  to  put  on  my  fine  dress  ;  if 
Barcelona  is  taken  I  shall  wear  green  ;  and  rose  colour  if 
the  Arch-Duke  is  taken  prisoner." 

Of  the  generals  engaged  in  Spanish  War  when  Louis  XIV. 
sent  his  armies  to  support  his  grandson's  claim  to  the 
throne,  Vendome  was  perhaps  the  greatest  soldier ;  of  his 
military  talents  and  heroic  bravery  there  is  no  question, 
and  he  was  adored  by  his  men.  But  he  was  hampered  by  a 
divided  command  (the  Duke  of  Burgundy  was  his  colleague) 
and  by  impossible  instructions  from  the  Court.  He  and 
the  other  French  generals,  Boufflers,  Villars  and  Villeroi, 


252 


MADAME  DE  MAINTENON 


THE  COURT  AND  THE  WAR 


253 


had  to  lead  their  troops  against  the  greatest  generals  of  the 
age,  Eugene  of  Savoy  and  Marlborough.  Calamity  after 
calamity,  disaster  upon  disaster  befell  the  armies  of  France, 
culmmating  in  their  signal  defeat  at  Ramilies  and  Blen- 
heim, by  the  allied  forces  under  Marlborough's  command. 
The  names  of  these  battlefields  and  of  Malplaquet  and 
Oudenarde  have  become  household  words. 

In  1708  the  strongest  fortress  in  France,  Lille,  succumbed 
to  Prince  Eugene  after  a  heroic  defence. 

Eugene,  son  of  Mazarin's  niece,  the  Comtesse  de  Soissons, 
had  petitioned  Louis  XIV.  for  a  colonelship  in  his  army. 
Louis  refused,  remarking  that  he  did  not  care  to  have  "  a 
httle  deformed  man  '*  in  his  army. 

This  remark  came  to  Eugene's  ears  ;  he  left  France, 
swearing  that  he  would  make  the  King  shed  tears  of  blood 
in  revenge  for  this  affront.  Probably  after  Lille  he  was 
satisfied  that  he  had  accomplished  his  oath. 

In  addition  to  the  expenses  of  a  prolonged  war,  the 
severe  winters,  especially  that  of  1708,  when  the  sea  was 
frozen  round  the  coasts  and  all  crops  destroyed,  brought 
famine,  distress  and  insurrection.  People  clamoured  for 
bread  under  the  very  windows  of  the  King.  The  hospitals 
were  overflowing,  corpses  of  peasants  who  had  died  of 
hunger  were  frequently  found  on  the  roads  or  in  the  woods. 
At  this  crisis  Madame  de  Maintenon  sold  her  six  horses, 
her  plate  and  jewellery,  and  made  every  effort  possible 
to  help  the  needy.  She  gave  subsidies  to  six  provincial 
convents,  and  day  after  day  personally  carried  help  to  the 
poor  and  sick  at  Versailles. 

Her  secretary.  Mademoiselle  d'Aumale,  wrote :  "  She 
thought  day  and  night  about  the  miseries  of  the  people." 

Yet  she  had  the  pain  of  hearing  that  the  populace  of 


Paris  accused  her  of  being  the  cause  of  the  deamess  of 
bread,  of  buying  up  com,  and  speculating  in  order  to  enrich 
herself !  She  received  threatening  and  insulting  letters, 
and  her  name  was  universally  execrated  by  the  ignorant. 
No  wonder  she  said  in  after  years  :  "  The  efforts  of  those 
in  high  positions  to  do  good  are  seldom  appreciated.  Do 
what  they  may,  they  are  always  judged  perversely  and 
arbitrarily,  and  generally  misunderstood.*' 

In  order  to  get  money  to  carry  on  the  war,  the  King 
sent  his  gold  plate  to  be  melted ;  most  of  the  courtiers 
imitated  their  master,  and  those  who  had  no  money  to 
give,  gave  themselves.  French  patriotism  was  aroused  ; 
gentlemen,  farmers  and  mechanics  flocked  to  the  ranks  to 
swell  the  forces  being  raised  to  repel  the  enemy  now  on  the 

frontiers. 

The  Minister  of  Finance,  as  a  means  of  raising  money, 
persuaded  the  King  to  allow  every  dignity  and  office  of  the 
State,  from  a  magistracy  to  a  captaincy,  to  be  sold,  and 
even  to  create  new  dignities  and  put  them  up  to  auction, 
saying  :  *'  When  your  Majesty  creates  a  new  ofiice,  God 
always  creates  a  fool  to  buy  it." 

At  Court  there  was  scarcely  a  family  that  had  not  its 
tale  of  dead  and  wounded,  or  who  had  not  either  a  husband, 
son  or  brother  risking  his  life  at  the  front. 

When  a  battle  was  known  to  be  imminent  the  agitation 
at  Court  was  extreme.  Everyone  was  uneasy,  thinking  of 
little  except  the  arrival  of  couriers.  Games  and  even 
conversation  ceased.  If  a  horse  passed  quickly,  people 
rushed  to  the  windows  without  knowing  why  !  The  War 
Minister,  Chamillard's  rooms  were  crowded  even  up  to  the 
street  door,  for  everyone  wished  to  be  informed  without 
an  instant's  delay  as  soon  as  news  arrived. 


J 


254  MADAME  DE  MAINTENON 

The  Duchess  of  Burgundy  passed  the  night  m  chapel, 
and  so  did  most  of  the  ladies  who  had  husbands  in  the 

army. 

And  this  state  of  suspense  was  only  broken  by  news  of  a 
decisive  battle,  which  often  confirmed  the  worst  anticipa- 
tions of  disaster.  During  the  war  Madame  de  Maintenon, 
against  her  will,  was  obliged  to  take  some  part  m  politics, 
and  hold  conferences  with  Ministers.  Her  intense 
sohcitude  for  the  King,  and  her  desire  to  spare  him  annoy- 
ance, led  her  to  hide  from  him  many  grievous  events. 

She  has  related  how,  when  news  of  fresh  disasters 
from  the  seat  of  war,  or  harrowing  accounts  of  distress 
in  the  provinces  arrived,  the  King  would  come  to  her  room, 
and  lock  the  door,  and  give  vent  to  the  grief  he  wished  to 
hide  from  the  public   eyes,  sometimes  shedding  bitter 

tears. 

She  writes : — 

**  Presently  there  will  be  knocking  at  the  door,  and 
a  Minister  announced,  generally  with  bad  news.  If  my 
presence  is  required,  I  am  called,  if  not  I  retire  to  some 
comer  to  pray.  Sometimes  I  hear  that  all  has  gone 
wrong  ;  then  my  heart  beats  and  I  get  no  sleep  at  night. 
The  designs  of  God  are  incomprehensible.  Three 
Christian  Kings  appear  to  be  abandoned  and  heresy 
and  injustice  triumph. 

"  Let  us  hope  it  will  not  be  for  long.  Fortune  never 
remains  the  same  for  any  length  of  time,  that  is  the  only 
consolation  in  times  of  trouble.  It  is  no  use  to  struggle 
against  God,  who  evidently  wishes  to  chastise  France 
for  pride,  undue  arrogance  and  aggression.'* 

It  seems  never  to  have  occurred  to  Madame  de  Maintenon 
that  the  terrible  persecution  and  sufferings  inflicted  on 
so  called  "  heretics,"  who  were  God-fearing  and  worthy 


THE  COURT  AND  THE  WAR 


255 


people,  might  have  brought  down  the  anger  of  the  God  of 
Love  on  the  perpetrators.^ 

The  lamentable  state  of  France  made  the  King  anxious 
to  obtain  peace  at  any  price,  and  by  making  great  con- 
cessions he  succeeded. 

The  Treaty  of  Utrecht  was  signed  in  1713.  The  grand- 
son of  Louis  retained  Spain,  but  lost  Naples,  Sicily  and 
Netherlands,  half  his  dominions,  and  France  had  to 
rehnquish  her  border  fortresses. 

After  the  Peace  of  Utrecht,  the  nobihty  returned  from 
the  wars,  and  for  a  short  time  the  old  splendours  were 
revived  at  Court.  The  winter  balls  and  fetes  at  Marly 
were  on  a  scale  of  greater  magnificence  than  ever,  but  the 
poverty  and  misery  of  the  people  increased. 

^  The  Revocation  of  Edict  of  Nantes  and  consequent  persecutions 
are  an  indelible  stain  on  the  reign.  That  Madame  de  Maintenon  did 
not  make  a  firmer  stand  against  this  policy  is  inconsistent  with  her 
compassionate  disposition.  This,  however,  is  dealt  with  in  Chapter  XIV. 


m 


CHAPTER   XXIII 

THE  DUKE  AND  DUCHESS  OF  BURGUNDY 

LOUIS  XIV/s  only  son  by  the  Queen,  Monseigneur 
the  Dauphin,  the  heir  to  the  throne,  was  very 
unlike  his  father.  He  had  the  fine  features  of 
the  Bourbons,  but  bloated  by  excess.  He  is 
described  as  "  drowned  in  his  own  fat."  His  tastes  were 
coarse;  he  was  incapable  of  acquiring  knowledge; 
phenomenally  ignorant,  even  for  a  Bourbon ;  unable  to 
speak  on  any  subject  but  cooking  or  hunting;  obstinate  and 
excessively  mean.  He  rarely  went  to  Versailles,  living  at 
his  country  house  of  Meudon,  the  resort  of  all  who  rebelled 
against  the  restraint  of  the  Court.  He  never  ventured 
to  open  his  mouth  in  the  presence  of  his  father,  whose 
manner  towards  him  was  that  of  king  rather  than  parent. 
No  regret  was  felt  at  his  death,  which  took  place  suddenly 
of  smallpox,  in  171 1. 

His  son,  the  Duke  of  Burgundy,  now  became  heir  to  the 
throne,  and  of  him  the  highest  hopes  were  entertained. 
As  a  boy  he  had  been  passionate  and  wayward  ;  furious 
with  the  weather  when  it  rained  ;  breaking  the  clocks  that 
struck  the  hours  for  his  lessons.  His  pride  was  such  that 
he  seemed  to  look  down  from  the  heights  of  heaven  on 
ordinary  men  as  mere  atoms  to  whom  he  bore  no  re- 
semblance, and  he  scarcely  even  acknowledged  the 
princes,  his  brothers,  as  intermediate  links  between  himself 
and  the  human  race.     But  under  the  influence  of  F6nelon, 

•56 


D.-J,4/I,t  r^  B   Pii^frfx,  irrtJm/  .1  P<inj  r^f  .fl tr^ut-  <>■■ /'..^r  .I.M.-t"<tn 


]la//<'  i^ii/^/a/^c  rrmcvsse  cfcSavoi/c!l)uc/ie.rse.  ckzDourQjiQm 

From  an  oigyazfing  in  the  Ih-itish  Muslkiii 


THE  DUKE  AND  DUCHESS  OF  BURGUNDY  257 

to  whom  his  education  had  been  entrusted,  his  character 
changed.  God,  who  is  the  Master  of  hearts,  and  whose 
Divine  Spirit  breathes  where  He  wills,  made  of  this  prince  a 
noble  being.  He  became  affable,  studious,  modest  and 
austere.  He  endeavoured  to  fit  himself  for  the  task  of 
ruling  France  by  reading  the  "  Blue  Books  "  of  his  day, 
and  long  treatises  on  finance  and  the  internal  administra- 
tion of  the  country,  prepared  for  him  by  practical  states- 
men. He  grieved  deeply  over  the  miseries  of  the  country, 
and  actually  dared  to  say  that  :  "  Kings  must  exist  for 
the  good  of  the  people,  not  the  people  for  the  King."  ^ 

He  was  most  self-denying.  We  hear  that  he  even 
denied  himself  a  bureau  that  he  much  wanted  and  had 
ordered.  He  afterwards  countermanded  it,  saying  :  "  The 
times  are  too  bad,  I  had  better  give  the  money  to  the  poor. 
I  must  wait  till  money  is  more  plentiful."  No  amount  of 
ridicule  could  induce  him  to  give  up  his  religious  practices. 

He  esteemed  Madame  de  Maintenon  highly,  and 
especially  valued  her  sincerity.  Summing  her  up,  he 
said  :  "  In  one  word,  she  is  so  true." 

On  the  death  of  his  father  he  was  urged  to  leave  his 
books  and  fit  himself  for  the  succession  to  the  throne, 
which  must  soon  fall  to  him,  by  mixing  with  the  world 
and  acquiring  that  knowledge  of  mankind  on  which  the 
science  of  government  depends,  and  which  books  alone 
cannot  give. 

The  young  Duchess  of  Burgundy,  his  wife,  Mary  Adelaide 
of  Savoy,  daughter  of  the  first  King  of  Sardinia,  came  to 
Versailles  when  only  twelve  years  old.  Madame  de  Main- 
tenon  undertook  her  education,  and  she  was  constantly 

*  This  theory  acted  on  by  a  less  able  man,  Louis  XVI.,  brought  him 
to  the  block,  and  cost  him  his  head. 


rl 


258 


MADAME  DE  MAINTENON 


with  her  and  the  old  King,^  who  doted  on  her,  and  was 
never  happy  when  she  was  out  of  his  sight.  She  would 
amuse  him  with  her  lively  stories  and  Italian  "  slang," 
caress  him,  pinch  him,  read  his  letters  and  interrupt  the 
gravest  conversation  with  some  gay  remark. 

One  day  Louis  was  talking  to  Madame  de  Maintenon  of 
the  chancess  of  peace  at  the  accession  of  Queen  Anne. 
**  Aunt,"  said  the  Dauphiness,  "  you  must  allow  that  the 
queens  govern  better  than  the  kings  in  England  ;  and  do 
you  know  why,  aimt  ?  "  Then  skipping  about  the  room, 
she  went  on  :  "  Because  under  kings  it  is  the  women  who 
govern,  and  the  men  under  the  queens." 

Both  the  King  and  Madame  de  Maintenon  laughed 
heartily  and  said  she  was  quite  right. 

As  she  grew  up  the  Duchess  of  Burgundy  had  a  charming 
figure  and  sweet  expression,  and  a  most  graceful  carriage. 
''  Her  walk,"  says  St  Simon,  "  was  that  of  a  goddess  over 
clouds."  Her  freshness  and  brightness  lightened  the  dull- 
ness and  sadness  of  Versailles,  which  was  then  but  a  gloomy 
place,  for  what  with  war  and  famine,  France  had  fallen  on 

evil  days. 

Madame  de  Maintenon's  affection  for  the  Duchess  of 
Burgundy  was  unfailing,  though  at  one  time  the  young 
Duchess  caused  her  no  little  anxiety.  In  her  early  married 
life  she  gave  way  to  frivolity  and  a  passion  for  gambling, 
and  the  following  letters  will  show  how  Madame  de  Main- 
tenon acted. 

Letter  of  Duchess  of  Burgundy  to  Madame  de  Main- 
tenon : — 

"  Friday,  midnight. — I  am  in  despair  because  I  am  so 
often  guilty  of  follies  which  give  you  cause  to  complain 

*  Louis  XIV.  was  in  his  seventy-third  year. 


THE  DUKE  AND  DUCHESS  OF  BURGUNDY  259 

of  me.  I  am  firmly  resolved  never  again  to  take  part  in 
this  play,  which  only  injures  my  reputation  and  di- 
minishes your  affection  which  is  of  all  things  the  most 
precious  to  me.  I  am  overwhermed  by  your  kindness  in 
sending  me  the  money  to  pay  my  gambling  debts.  I 
hope  by  God's  help  to  cure  myself  of  my  failings  and  to 
be  worthy  of  your  affection.^ 

The  Duchess  of  Burgundy  did  correct  herself  of  her  faults 
and  filled  with  dignity  her  position  as  the  first  lady  in 
France.  Madame  de  Maintenon's  counsels  to  her  with 
regard  to  her  relations  to  God,  to  her  husband,  and  to  the 
world,  are  very  fine.  They  were  perhaps  given  first  in  con- 
versation, but  she  had  them  written  out  by  her  secretary, 
Mademosielle  d'Aumale,  and  gave  the  MS.  to  the  Duchess, 
who  preserved  it  carefully  ;  at  her  death  this  book  was 
found  in  her  desk  and  the  King  ordered  it  to  be  kept  as  a 
valuable  heritage  for  her  descendants. 

The  following  is  a  passage  from  this  collection  :— 

"  Letter  of  Advice  to  Duchess  of  Burgundy : 

"  You  love  joy,  repose,  pleasure  :  believe  me,  I  have 
tasted  all,  there  is  no  joy,  repose  or  pleasure  except  in 
serving  God.  Do  not  expect  perfect  happiness,  it  is  not  to 
be  found  on  earth.  Let  the  Duke  of  Burgundy  be  your 
best  friend  and  confidant.  Do  not  expect  your  union  to 
give  you  perfect  peace  of  mind  :  the  best  marriages  are 
those  when  husband  and  wife  bear  and  fprbear  with 
gentleness  and  patience.  Strive  not  to  be  jealous  ;  do 
not  hope  to  win  back  a  husband  by  complaints,'  ill- 
temper  and  reproaches ;  the  only  means  are  patience  and 
gentleness. 

"  Speak,  write,  act  and  think  as  if  you  always  had  a 
thousand  witnesses,  sooner  or  later  all  is  known.  Love 
your  servants,  lead  them  to  God,  make  their  fortune  but 
not  a  great  fortune  ;    do  not  satisfy  their  vanity  or 

*  The  original  of  this  letter  is  preserved  in  the  Chateau  de  Mouchy. 


260  MADAME  DE  MAINTENON 

avarice,  endeavour  to  inculcate  moderation  in  their 

desires. 

"  Sympathise  with  the  imfortimate,  God  has  placed 
you  in  your  high  position  to  do  good.  The  power  of 
doing  services  to  others  and  making  people  happy  is 
the  true  compensation  for  the  fatigues,  disagreeables  and 
constraints  of  your  position." 

"  Who  indeed  that  knew  her  could  help  loving  her  ?  " 
wrote  Madame  de  Maintenon  after  the  death  of  the  Duchess 
of  Burgundy.  For  all  the  hopes  that  were  centred  on  this 
young  couple  were  soon  to  be  shattered.  A  year  after  the 
death  of  his  father,  the  new  Dauphin  (better  known  as 
Duke  of  Burgundy)  and  his  wife  and  their  eldest  son  died  of 
a  malignant  fever.  It  first  attacked  the  Dauphiness. 
After  the  first,  for  fear  of  infection,  the  Duke  was  not 
allowed  to  remain  with  his  wife — but  spent  the  time  in 
prayer.  When  they  came  to  announce  her  death,  he  said, 
"  Domine  salvum  fac  regem." 

He  himself  was  sickening  of  the  same  disease  ;  when  his 
strength  gave  way  he  was  carried  to  the  King's  apartment. 
Louis  embraced  his  grandson  tenderly,  long  and  may  times, 
their  words  being  choked  by  tears  and  sobs.  After  this 
interview  the  Dauphin  was  carried  to  his  bed  and  lingered 
four  days  in  agony,  till  death  released  him.  St  Simon, 
describing  the  scene  says  : — 

"  He  threw  on  me  a  look  that  pierced  me  to  the  heart. 
I  never  saw  him  again.  May  it  please  God  in  His  mercy 
that  I  may  see  him  eternally  where  his  goodness  has 
doubtless  placed  him." 

Scarcely  a  month  later  the  Dauphin's  two  children  took 
measles  ;  one  died,  the  other  lived  to  become  Louis  XV. 
The  Dauphin's  brother,  the  Duke  de  Berry,  died  two  years 
later. 


THE  DUKE  AND  DUCHESS  OF  BURGUNDY  261 

The  terrible  desolation  of  the  King  made  a  profound 
impression  on  all  hearts — in  so  short  a  time  deprived  of 
son  and  grandsons,  and  left  with  only  one  child's  frail  life 
to  perpetuate  his  dynasty. 

The  Due  d'Orl^ans  was  accused  of  having  poisoned  the 
Dauphin  and  Dauphiness,  in  order  to  clear  his  own  way  to 
the  throne,  and  he  was  almost  torn  in  pieces  by  the  mob 
when  his  face  was  seen  through  the  window  of  his  glass 
coach  in  the  funeral  cortege  which  escorted  them  to  their 
last  resting  place  at  St  Denis.  After  the  ceremony  St 
Simon  said  :  "  We  have  buried  the  fortunes  of  France." 

Philippe,  Due  d'Orleans,  had  married  Mademoiselle  de 
Blois,  the  youngest  daughter  of  Louis  XIV.  by  Madame  de 
Montespan.  She  was  not  pretty,  but  simple  and  virtuous. 
D'Orleans  was  an  extraordinary  mixture  of  all  the  vices 
and  some  good  qualities  ;  he  was  brave  and  generous  and 
had  talent.  His  taste  for  science  and  chemistry  was 
mixed  with  a  foolish  superstitious  belief  in  magic  and 
sorcery.  He  spent  hours  in  his  laboratory  ;  but  his  great 
desire  was  "  to  raise  the  devil  and  make  him  speak  "  ;  for 
this  purpose  he  would  pass  whole  nights  in  the  quarries  of 
Vaugirard  uttering  spells  and  incantations.  These  prac- 
tices, together  with  his  notorious  impiety  and  scandalous 
life,  made  the  credulous  public  believe  the  worst  of  him. 
But  with  all  his  faults  he  was  not  a  murderer,  and  he  was 
much  attached  to  the  Dauphin  and  Dauphiness  ;  nor  had 
he  ambition  as  an  incentive,  he  was  far  too  indolent  to 
wish  to  rule.  He  indignantly  demanded  a  public  trial  and 
to  be  confronted  with  his  accusers.  But  the  King,  who 
was  both  uncle  and  father-in-law,  said :  "  The  only  accusers 
you  have  with  me  are  your  own  immorality  and  frightful 
laxity  of  principle." 


i^ 


^  ?>ii 


262  MADAME  DE  MAINTENON 

After  the  death  of  Louis  XIV.  d'Orleans  became 
Regent,  and  he  always  treated  the  httle  Louis  XV.  with  a 
chivalrous  affection  that  was  hardly  to  be  expected  from 
a  man  of  his  character. 

The  following  letter  was  written  to  Madame  de 
Maintenon  by  the  Duchesse  du  Maine,  after  the  death  of 
the  Duke  and  Duchess  of  Burgundy  :— 

"  What  a  misfortune,  Madame !  What  a  grief  for 
the  King  !  What  a  loss  for  France !  I  feel  it  in  the 
depths  of  my  heart.  But  I  protest  that  the  thought  of 
you  redoubles  my  grief.  My  heart  is  penetrated  with 
the  thought  of  all  the  sorrows  that  overwhelm  you. 
A  sudden  death  deprives  you  of  the  work  of  your  hands  * 
just  as  the  kingdom  was  about  to  enjoy  the  fruit  of  all 
your  cares  and  you  were  beginning  to  perceive  the 
success  of  an  education  that  cost  you  so  much  care  and 
watchfulness.  Behold,  Madame,  a  terrible  lesson  to 
Princes  !  God  help  us  to  profit  by  it  !  And  while  I 
shall  implore  Him  to  send  you  the  consolations  you  so 
much  need,  obtain  for  me  of  His  mercy  that  this  awful 
example  of  the  nothingness  of  earthly  splendour  may 
make  me  think  seriously  of  those  that  never  perish. 
"  (Signed)         Louise  BfiNtoicxE  de  Bourbon.*' 

After  the  graves  had  closed  over  the  Duke  and  Duchess 
of  Burgundy,  the  King  retired  to  St  Cyr.  Up  till  then  no 
murmur  had  escaped  his  lips,  but,  shut  up  with  Madame  de 
Maintenon  in  her  private  room,  he  gave  way  to  his  grief. 
Here,  free  from  the  prying  eyes  of  courtiers,  they  wept 
together  and  consoled  each  other. 

Reheved  by  giving  way  to  nature,  and  strengthened  by 
prayer,  Louis  recovered  his  strength  to  face  the  future. 

"  Henceforth,"  said  Madame  de  Maintenon,  "  France 

*  The  Duchess  of  Burgundy,  whom  Madame  de  Maintenon  had 
educated  and  formed. 


THE  DUKE  AND  DUCHESS  OF  BURGUNDY  263 

alone  will  be  his  family,  and  not  less  dear  than  those  he  has 
lost." 

The  little  Dauphin  (only  surviving  child  of  the  Duke  and 
Duchess  of  Burgundy)  was  often  brought  to  take  the  air  in 
the  gardens  of  St  Cyr,  and  one  can  imagine  with  what  de- 
Hght  the  community  welcomed  the  child  of  their  beloved 
princess.  When  he  passed  out  of  the  hands  of  his  Gouver- 
nante,  the  Duchesse  de  Ventadour,  into  the  hands  of  a 
governor  and  tutor,  she  sent  his  last  child's  dress  to  be 
consecrated  for  the  ornamentation  of  the  Virgin's  shrine. 

It  is  sad  that  the  child  of  so  many  hopes  and  prayers 
should  have  lived  to  become  infamous  in  history  as 
Louis  XV. 


CHAPTER   XXIV 


LAST   YEARS   OF  THE   REIGN   OF   LOUIS   XIV 


i| 


I 


MADAME  DE  MAINTENON  was  quite 
broken-hearted  through  the  troubles  that 
overwhehned  the  King  and  country  in  the 
latter  years  of  the  reign ;  more  particularly 
she  felt  deeply  that  his  improved  life  should  have  been 
coincident  with  all  the  misfortunes  of  his  reign.  She  had 
always  to  appear  cheerful  and  serene  before  the  King  and 
Court,  and  her  only  comfort  was  when  she  could  get  away 
to  St  Cyr  and  unburden  herself  to  Madame  de  Glapion,  her 
chief  confidante. 

**  One  of  my  greatest  troubles  is,"  she  said,  "  that  when 
the  King  comes  to  me  for  rest  and  recreation,  I  am  often 
obliged  to  occupy  the  time  by  speaking  of  unpleasant 
things  :  to  tell  him  the  truth,  that  people  are  deceiving 
him,  or  giving  him  bad  advice.  How  wretched  I  am  to  be 
obliged  to  sadden  one  whom  I  love,  and  to  displease  one 
whom  everybody  else  tries  to  please." 
To  her  niece,  Madame  de  Caylus,  she  writes  : — 

"  Marly,  1701.— We  lead  a  singular  life  here.  The 
young  generation  would  hke  to  have  wit,  gallantry,  and 
originality,  but  are  without  it.  They  play,  yawn  and 
are  bored,  caress  each  other,  and  tear  each  other  to 
pieces."  * 

Madame  de  Maintenon  disliked  new  customs,  as  the 
following  letter  to^the  Princesse  des  Ursins  shows : — 


^^ 


LAST  YEARS  OF  REIGN  OF  LOUIS  XIV  265 

"  FoNTAiNEBLEAU,  Sept.  ^oth,  1714.— The  Elector  of 
Bavaria  has  departed,  after  being  amused  day  and  night 
by  the  Princesses  and  card-players.  He  has  taken  away 
nearly  all  his  money,  upon  which  they  had  formed  great 
projects.  M.  d'Antin  lost  two  hundred  thousand  francs. 
The  Court  has  had  more  brilliant  ladies  than  it  has  at 
present,  but  it  has  not  been  more  crowded,  peace  having 
restored  to  us  all  the  men,  and  we  have  also  many 
foreigners.  On  Wednesday  there  was  some  music  on 
the  canal.  The  Elector  was  in  a  boat  with  the  Duchess 
of  Burgundy,  the  King  on  shore  in  his  caleche,  with  all 
the  nobility  on  horseback,  and  a  great  number  of  ladies 
in  small  caleches,  a  little  too  low,  but  very  pretty,  and 
filled  with  youth  and  beauty  ;  for  the  elderly  no  longer 
mix  with  the  young ;  ladies  of  honour,  mothers  and 
gouvemantes  must  now  form  parties  of  their  own. 

"  The  departure  of  the  Elector  of  Bavaria  was 
succeeded  by  the  arrival  of  the  Electoral  Prince  of 
Saxony.  He  hunted  on  Saturday  with  the  Duke's 
hounds,  out  of  compliment  the  King  joined  in  the  chase 
and  killed  two  stags,  one  not  being  enough  for  him.  He 
hunted  seven  hours  and  returned  to  the  musical  party 
in  niy  room  fresher  and  gayer  than  if  he  had  done 
nothing.  He  usually  attends  a  stag-hunt  twice  a  wee*: 
and  on  other  days  he  shoots  or  takes  a  walk  ;  attends 
four  musical  parties  in  my  apartments,  or  hears  some  of 
MoH^re's  best  plays  read.  He  holds  more  councils  than 
ever  and  gives  a  number  of  audiences  to  courtiers  and 
foreigners.  He  enters  into  and  attends  to  business 
assiduously  and  really  his  life  is  a  continuous  miracle.^ 

"  The  alterations  he  has  made  at  Fontainebleau  have 
made  it  much  more  agreeable. 

"  The  marriage  of  the  Prince  de  Soubise  was  cele- 
brated at  Versailles  with  all  the  pomp,  politeness  and 
propriety  of  the  two  families  who  are  certainly  the 
least  spoiled  of  all  we  see  around  us.  I  do  not  think 
the  young  bride  will  appear  in  public  without  a  suite 
so  soon  as  all  here  are  in  the  habit  of  doing.  I  speak 
not  only  of  Marly  where  it  is  now  usual  to  do  so,  and 
to  walk  in  the  gardens  exposed  to  the  gaze  of  everybody  ; 

*  He  was  seventy-five. 


'\\  ^ 


266 


MADAME  DE  MAINTENON 


<l 


but  it  is  the  same  at  Versailles  and  Paris.  My  imagina- 
tion does  not  extend  so  far  as  to  see  you  in  the  streets 
lolling  in  an  open  caliche  with  four  young  lacqueys 
behind — for  it  is  thus  our  greatest  young  ladies  now 
appear.  This  does  not  resemble  the  house  at  Versailles 
where  I  had  the  honour  to  visit  you,  and  of  passing 
through  one  antechamber  full  of  servants  in  livery, 
another  in  which  were  the  gentlemen  and  your  ladies, 
and  you,  Madame,  in  your  own  room  (which  had  no 
back  door),  where  one  was  sure  to  find  you.*'  ^ 

An  amusing  marriage  ceremony  is  described  in  a  letter 
to  the  Princesse  des  Ursins,  3rd  June  1708  : — 

"  We  have  had  a  grand  scene  at  Marly.  Madame  de 
Roquelaure  sent  to  beg  I  would  allow  her  to  enter  my 
apartment  by  a  back  door  ;  I  found  her  in  the  greatest 
affliction  ;  she  said  she  came  to  ask  justice  from  the 
King  for  the  abduction  of  her  daughter  by  the  Prince 
de  Leon.  The  circumstances  are  as  follows  :— The 
parents  wished  to  marry  the  Prince  to  Mademoiselle 
Roquelaure,  and  after  a  long  treaty  on  the  subject,  it 
was  broken  off  because  the  Due  de  Rohan  would  not 
give  money  enough  to  his  son.  Meanwhile  the  two 
parties  immediately  interested  promised  to  marry  each 
other.  The  young  lady  was  in  the  Consent  of  La 
Croix,  Faubourg  St  Antoine,  with  her  governess.  The 
Prince  de  Leon  sent  a  coach  to  the  Convent  with  a 
message  requesting  that  Mademoiselle  de  Roquelaure 
shoidd  go  and  see  her  mother  who  was  at  the  house  of 
Madame  de  Viefille.  The  Prince  had  the  arms  and 
hvery  of  this  lady  painted  on  the  coach.  The  young 
lady  got  into  the  coach  with  her  governess,  who  per- 
ceiving that  the  coach  did  not  take  the  right  road, 
wished  to  call  for  help,  but  her  mouth  was  stopped  with  a 
handkerchief :  having  met  the  Prince  de  Leon,  they 
proceeded  to  a  small  country  house  belonging  to  the  Due 
de  Lorges.     Here  a  priest  said  Mass  and  married  them. 

"  After  remaining  a  few  hours  the  bride  returned  to 
the  Convent  with  her  governess.  The  Prince  has 
written  as  follows  to  the  Due  d'Aumont :— '  I  entreat 


LAST  YEARS  OF  REIGN  OF  LOUIS  XIV   267 

you  to  tell  Madame  de  Roquelaure,  that  I  have  married 
her  daughter ;  that  I  have  brought  back  the  Princesse 
de  Leon  to  her  Convent  where  I  hope  she  will  not  remain 

long.' 

"  The  lady  is  nearly  twenty-five,  and  tired  to  death  of 
the  Convent ;  she  is  said  to  be  highlv  accomplished  and 
amiable,  but  not  handsome.  The  King  has  terminated 
the  affair,  but  as  the  marriage  will  take  place  without 
a  reconcihation  between  them,  all  the  parties  are  to 
enter  the  church  by  different  doors  ;  they  will  meet  at 
the  foot  of  the  altar ;  the  ceremony  will  be  performed 
and  all  will  return  without  speaking  to  each  other.  The 
new  married  couple  will  be  allowed  twelve  thousand 
francs  per  annum." 

In  1708  Madame  de  Maintenon  writes  to  the  Due  de 
Noailles : — 

"  All  in  this  world  is  trouble,  vanity  and  vexation. 
Troubles  among  men,  among  women,  the  great,  the 
small,  in  society  and  in  families.  You  know  now  often 
people  have  offered  their  plate  to  augment  war  funds. 
Now  they  begin  to  murmur  and  say  the  King  should 
set  the  example  of  retrenching.  All  his  expenses  are 
complained  of.  The  journeys  to  Marly  ruin  the 
kingdom.  They  wish  to  deprive  him  of  his  dogs,  horses, 
valets,  even  his  furniture. 

Where  are  these  murmurs  heard  ? 
At  the  King's  door. 
By  whom  are  they  uttered  ? 
"  By  people  who  owe  all  they  possess  to  him. 
*'  He  has  diminished  the  Marly  parties,  sent  his  plate 
to  the  Mint  and  his  jewellery  to  be  mortgaged. 

"  But  people  only  wish  to  notice  what  is  not  done. 
I  tell  you  such  dispositions  make  the  blood  freeze  in  my 
veins." 

To  the  Comte  d'Harcourt  she  wrote  : — 

"  Is  it  possible  that  knowing  the  state  of  the  country 
you  think  the  King  is  treating  for  peace  too  soon  !    Do 


(( 


(( 


(( 


268 


MADAME  DE  MAINTENON 


i 


i 


you  think  he  ought  to  stand  out  for  one  or  two  cities 
more  or  less  when  the  people  of  France  are  at  the  last 
extremity,  and  the  nobility  even  more  so,  when  all 
commerce  has  ceased,  and  we  have  not  a  ship  on  the  sea 
and  do  not  know  where  to  turn  for  money  ?  Many 
people  who  helped  the  poor  last  year,  are  now  obliged 
to  accept  alms  secretly  to  keep  themselves  alive." 

The  revenues  secured  to  it  by  Louis  XIV.  saved  St  Cyr 
from  these  troubles,  and  the  Community  imposed  every 
possible  privation  on  themselves  in  order  to  increase  the 
number  of  destitute  people  they  were  thus  enabled  to 
succour.  The  pupils  deprived  themselves  of  their  ribbons, 
ate  only  ryebread,  and  gave  up  their  playtime  to  make 
clothes  for  the  needy. 

When  Madame  de  Maintenon  went  in  her  carriage  from 
Versailles  to  St  Cyr,  she  was  surrounded  by  such  a  mob  of 
beggais  that  the  carriage  could  not  move.  They  uttered 
yells  and  shrieks  of  despair,  and  at  last  she  felt  that  her  life 
was  not  safe.  She  said,  "  The  people  are  in  such  a  state  of 
desperation  that  it  is  impossible  to  reason  with  them,  and 
one  cannot  go  out  in  safety." 

Though  Madame  de  Maintenon's  carriage  was  filled  with 
food  and  clothing  which,  as  well  as  money,  she  distributed 
as  she  went  along,  it  was  only  a  drop  in  the  ocean  of  misery 
that  surged  around  her  progress. 

Louis  XIV.  showed  real  grandeur  of  character  in  the 
way  he  bore  up  under  the  repeated  buffets  of  fortune. 
Talking  to  Marechal  Villars  of  the  prospects  of  the  war,  he 
said  :  "  If  you  are  beaten  I  shall  come  myself  to  your  aid 
or  die  with  you.  I  have  the  honour  to  be  the  oldest 
soldier  in  my  kingdom." 

At  the  time  of  her  marriage  to  the  King,  Madame  de 
Maintenon  appeared  the  younger  of  the  two,  but  as  the 


LAST  YEARS  OF  REIGN  OF  LOUIS  XIV   269 

years  passed  she  fell  a  victim  to  the  infirmities  of  age 
sooner  than  he  did. 

While  she  was  losing  teeth,  sight  and  hearing,  Louis  still 
had  a  good  appetite,  worked  daily  with  Ministers,  hunted 
frequently,  and  had  lost  little  of  his  majestic  appearance. 
Madame  de  Maintenon  was  very  sensitive  about  her  bodily 
mfirmities,  and  liked  to  hide  herself  from  the  pubhc  eye. 
She  said  she  was  ashamed  to  have  lived  so  long.  She 
could  not  believe  that  her  company  was  still  a  pleasure  to 
her  friends,  but  imagined  that  their  visits  were  made  out  of 
compassion.  A  remnant  of  pride  made  her  shrink  from 
asking  for  their  society  or  for  those  little  cares  and  atten- 
tions which  age  had  made  necessary.  Every  year  she  re- 
tired more  and  more  from  general  society.  At  the  age  of 
seventy-five  she  wrote  :  "  The  King  is  a  great  deal  with  me, 
and  I  like  to  be  alone  when  I  am  at  my  own  disposal." 

The  last  years  of  the  reign  of  "  le  Grand  Monarque  " 
make  melancholy  reading.  One  does  not  Uke  to  hear  of 
the  magnificent  Louis  being  wheeled  about  in  a  chair,i  and 
the  enchantress,  Madame  de  Maintenon,  becoming  deaf 
and  nearly  blind. 

We  feel,  as  Louis  himself  felt,  that  he  had  lived  too  long  ; 
that  it  would  have  been  preferable  to  have  died  at  the 
height  of  his  glory  and  prosperity  than  to  have  lived  to  see 
his  armies  defeated,  his  country  impoverished  by  war  and 
famine,  the  great  names  that  made  his  reign  famous  dis- 
appear, and  three  generations  of  his  family  go  down  into 
the  grave  before  him. 

His  latter  years  were  troubled  by  religious  controversies. 
A  few  bishops  and  recluses  2  quarrelled  over  five  or  six 

^  This  was  the  case  before  the  end  came. 
*  The  Port  Royahsts. 


1 


M 


2/0 


MADAME  DE  MAINTENON 


•i 


sentences  in  a  book  ^  and  the  whole  of  France  was  con- 
vulsed by  this  senseless  war  of  opinion,  which  prevented 
the  King  from  dying  in  peace. 

.  Louis  still  gave  audience  to  ambassadors  and  presided  at 
councils,  but  in  August  1715  his  health  began  to  decline 
rapidly.  At  this  time,  in  Madame  de  Maintenon's  company, 
he  looked  through  the  contents  of  his  private  desk,  and 
burned  such  papers  as  he  did  not  wish  to  meet  the  eyes  of 
others  after  his  death.  In  this  desk  was  a  rosary,  which  he 
gave  to  Madame  de  Maintenon,  telling  her  to  wear  it 
always,  not  as  a  relic,  but  in  memory  of  him. 

On  the  24th  August  he  dined  in  pubhc  for  the  last  time. 
The  drums  and  hautboys  played  under  his  window,  as  was 
usual  on  the  feast  of  St  Louis.  In  the  evening  he  was 
seized  with  a  fit,  and  the  doctors  thought  his  state  so 
critical  that  Pere  le  Tellier  and  Cardinal  de  Rohan  were 
summoned  to  his  bedroom  and  he  made  his  last  confession 
and  received  the  last  Sacrament. 

His  dignity  and  self-control  never  left  him  though  he 

suffered  greatly. 

"  Why  do  you  weep  ?  "  he  said  to  the  princesses.  "Did 
you  believe  me  immortal  ?  Must  I  not  pay  to  God  the 
tribute  of  my  Hfe,  which  is  his  due  ?  " 

Louis  had  a  last  interview  with  the  Due  d'Orleans,  who 
was  to  be  Regent,  and  asked  him  to  take  care  of  Madame 
de  Maintenon,  for  whom  (at  her  own  request)  no  provision 

had  been  made. 

He  then  sent  for  the  gentlemen  of  his  household,  thanked 
them  for  their  long  and  faithful  service,  and  expressed  the 
hope  that  they  would  be  equally  dutiful  to  the  young  King. 
Seeing  them  shed  tears,  he  said  :  "  Adieu,  gentlemen,  it  is 

*  Jansenist  heresy. 


LAST  YEARS  OF  REIGN  OF  LOUIS  XIV   271 

time  for  us  to  part.  I  trust  you  will  think  of  me  some- 
times." 

The  little  Dauphin  was  then  sent  for.  The  King  em- 
braced him,  gave  him  his  blessing,  and  some  pathetic  words 
of  advice,  which  show  that  he  (the  King)  was  very  sensible 
of  his  own  shortcomings. 

"  My  child,''  he  said,  "  you  are  going  to  be  a  great  King. 
Do  not  imitate  me  in  the  taste  I  had  for  magnificent  build- 
ings and  war  ;  strive  on  the  contrary  to  be  at  peace  with 
your  neighbours.  Render  to  God  what  is  His  due,  and 
cause  your  subjects  to  honour  Him.  Try  to  be  a  comfort 
to  your  people,  which  I  unfortunately  have  not  been." 

When  the  child,  who  was  scarcely  five  years  old,  had  been 
carried  away,  weeping,  Louis  turned  to  Madame  de  Main- 
tenon, and  pressing  her  hand,  said  :  "  What  consoles  me 
most  of  all  is  that  we  may  soon  meet  again." 

All  that  night  he  lingered  in  agony  and  was  heard  re- 
peating to  himself  :  "  Have  pity  on  me,  O  God,  come  to 
my  aid." 

These  were  his  last  audible  words. 

At  eight  o'clock  in  the  morning  his  Confessor,  Le  Tellier, 
who  had  never  left  the  bedside,  placed  the  crucifix  on  the 
dead  King's  breast ;  an  officer  stopped  the  palace  clock ;  a 
herald  threw  open  the  windows,  stepped  out  on  the  balcony, 
and,  in  accordance  with  immemorial  custom,  thrice  pro- 
claimed :  "  Le  Roi  est  mort,  Vive  le  Roi !  " 

Thus,  after  the  longest  and  most  eventful  reign  in  French 
history,  Louis  XIV.  disappeared  from  the  scene  where  he 
had  experienced  much  glory  and  no  Httle  obloquy. 


'iin!«i 


CHAPTER  XXV 

CHARACTER  OF  LOUIS   XIV. 

LOUIS  is  described  as  having  been  very  handsome 
in  his  youth.  His  eyes  were  blue,  his  nose  long 
well  formed.  His  abundant  hair  was  allowed 
to  fall  over  his  shoulders,  and  in  the  flowing 
plumes  and  picturesque  dress  of  the  period  his  appearance 
was  most  fascinating.  Though  slightly  below  middle 
height,  all  agree  that  in  majestic,  dignified  bearing  and 
impressive  manners  he  was  unrivalled,  and  Bolingbroke 
says  :  "  If  he  was  not  the  greatest  king,  he  was  the  best 
actor  of  majesty  that  ever  filled  a  throne." 

He  was  skilled  in  all  social  acquirements,  danced,  rode 
and  drove  to  perfection,  and  excelled  in  all  athletic  exer- 
cises. His  education  was  deficient.  During  his  minority 
Cardinal  Mazarin  was  supreme,  and  did  not  wish  Louis  to 
develop  abihties  or  acquire  knowledge  that  would  lead  him 
to  interfere  early  in  State  affairs,  so  the  tutors  and 
governors  had  their  instructions. 

Mazarin  had  judged  his  character,  and  said  he  had  enough 
stuff  in  him  to  make  three  kings  and  one  honest  man. 
Although  his  intellectual  development  never  proceeded 
far,  he  became  proficient  in  after  years  in  all  that  in  those 
times  it  was  necessary  for  a  king  to  know,  and  his  judgment 

of  men  was  sound. 

As  soon  as  Mazarin  was  dead  Louis  began  to  show  that 
the  former  was  mistaken  in  his  estimate  of  the  young 

•7« 


'^miict'  ei  oe  I  launrrc- 

Ffoiii  an  engra7)ing  in  the  British  Museum 


CHARACTER  OF  LOUIS  XIV  273 

King's  character.  He  took  the  reins  of  government  into 
his  own  hands,  fixed  the  Hmit  of  each  minister's  powers, 
causing  them  to  render  to  him,  at  regular  hours,  an  account 
of  aU  they  were  doing,  and  watching  carefully  to  see  that 
they  did  not  abuse  or  exceed  their  powers.  This  manner  of 
ruhng  continued  tiU  the  end  of  his  Hfe,  and  whatever  else 
might  be  put  aside  he  never  failed  to  work  five  hours 
daily  at  affairs  of  State,  and  never  allowed  amusements  or 
love  affairs  to  interfere  with  his  hours  of  business. 

He  soon  began  to  fortify  and  embellish  his  kingdom. 
The  seaports  formerly  deserted  were  surrounded  by  de- 
fences and  covered  with  ships.  He  sent  out  his  subjects 
to  plant  his  flag  and  form  colonies  in  America,  East  Indies 
and  Africa,  whUe  in  France  immense  edifices  gave  occupa- 
tions to  miUions  of  men,  and  the  interior  of  his  Court  and 
capital  gave  to  France  pleasures  and  glory  of  which, 
hitherto,  there  had  been  no  conception.  His  designs 
were  magnificent,  and  under  him  France  attained  a  position 
of  incontestable  preponderance  in  Europe,  and  his  Court 
became  the  most  stately  Court  of  history. 

Although  his  life  was  lived  in  public  from  the  time  that, 
in  the  midst  of  a  large  assembly,  a  Prince  of  the  Blood 
handed  him  his  shirt,  when  he  got  up  in  the  morning,  tiU 
the  last  thing  at  night,  yet  those  who  lived  in  closest  inti- 
macy with  him  found  him  equally  impressive. 

Louis  XIV.  never  relaxed  his  dignity,  but  his  successor, 
Louis  XV.  considered  himself  as  two  individuals,  and  had 
separate  business  and  monetary  accounts  and  pleasures,  in 
one  of  which  he  figured  as  Louis  Bourbon,  and  in  the  other 
as  King.  Louis  Bourbon  was  fond  of  orgies  in  low  company 
—but  even  there,  if  the  license  exceeded  the  bounds  of  even 
his  toleration,  he  would  (as  he  well  could)  suddenly  assume 


!    ' 


274  MADAME  DE  MAINTENON 

a  regal  air,  and,  rapping  on  the  table,  would  say  in  a  loud 
voice  :    "  The  King  is  here,"  and  effectually  stop  what 

offended  him. 

Louis  XIV.  never  appeared  in  any  other  character  than 
that  of  "  le  Grand  Monarque,"  even  on  his  deathbed. 

He  himself  said  once  :— 

"  Princes  have  no  right  to  be  careless,  since  general 
/consent  has  made  us  Highnesses,  we  must  know  how 
/to  carry  our  burden,  and  to  lay  it  down  at  no  time  and 
/in  no  place.     In  the  sight  of  God  we  are  not  so,  but  m 
'   the  eyes  of  our  fellowmen  we  are  great  and  extra- 
ordinary beings.     The  day  that  people  abandon  this 
veneration,  which  is  the  mainstay  of  thrones,  the  day 
they  regard  us  as  equals,  the  prestige  of  our  position 
wiU  be  destroyed,  the  laws  will  be  only  so  many  black 
lines  on  white  paper." 

Louis  made  this  speech  to  his  brother,  on  the  occasion  of 
the  latter  endeavouring  to  obtain  the  right  of  a  seat  in  the 
Royal  Presence  for  his  wife,  and  he  continued  :— 

"  Your  tabouret  and  my  fauteuil  ^  will  be  pieces  of 
furniture  of  the  same  importance.  I  regret  being  un- 
able to  accede  to  your  request,  but  it  is  necessary  by 
these  distinctions  to  safeguard  the  dignity  of  the  Crown. 
Etiquette  is  with  me  only  a  matter  of  pohcy,  personally 
I  care  nothing  for  these  distinctions.  .  .  ," 

St  Simon  says  :— 

"  Never  did  anyone  give  such  distinction  to  his  words, 
his  smiles,  his  very  looks.  He  made  everything  precious 
by  making  it  choice  and  majestic,  and  to  this  the  ranty 

»  The  "  Fauteuil  "  was  the  kind  of  arm-chair  in  which  the  kings  and 

^^The  "  tabouret  "  was  a  stool  without  arms  or  back  on  which  Royal 
princes,  and  such  of  the  highest  nobiUty  as  possessed  the  right  of 
sitting  in  the  presence  of  royalty,  were  seated. 


CHARACTER  OF  LOUIS  XIV 


275 


of  his  words  contributed  not  a  little.  If  he  addressed 
anyone— a  question,  it  might  be,  or  a  commonplace 
remark  — it  was  an  honour  about  which  one  talked. 
It  was  the  same  with  all  his  attentions  and  distinctions, 
and  with  the  preference  so  exactly  proportioned  to  each 
person's  merits. 

"Never  did  anyone  give  with  a  better  grace,  and 
thereby  enhance  the  value  of  the  gifts." 

Le  Grande  Monarque  was  not  one  to  whom  could  be 
apphed  the  saying,  "  No  man  is  a  hero  to  his  valet."  He 
was  kind  to  his  servants,  but  the  moment  he  assumed  his 
royal  deportment,  they  were  as  much  intimidated  as  if 
they  were  appearing  in  his  presence  for  the  first  time. 

Some  of  the  members  of  his  household  claimed  preroga- 
tives, the  exercise  of  which  was  disputed  with  them  by  the 
municipal  body  of  St  Germains,  where  they  resided  in  con- 
siderable numbers.  They  obtained  permission  to  send  a 
delegation  to  the  King,  and  two  of  his  Majesty's  valets-de- 
chambre,  named  Bazire  and  Toulaigre,  were  chosen  to  re- 
present them.  The  King's  levee  being  over,  the  deputation 
from  St  Germains  was  called  in.  They  entered  with  con- 
fidence, the  King  assumed  his  imposing  official  attitude. 
Bazire  was  about  to  speak,  but  Louis  the  Great  was  looking 
at  him.  He  no  longer  saw  the  prince  he  was  accustomed 
to  attend  to ;  he  was  intimidated,  and  could  not  find  words. 
He  stammered  and  began,  "  Sire,"  but  could  not  recollect  a 
word  of  what  he  had  come  to  say,  so,  after  repeating  "  Sire  " 
several  times,  he  concluded  with,  "  Sire,  here  is  Toulaigre." 
Toulaigre  expected  to  acquit  himself  better,  but  he  also 
became  embarrassed  when  he  found  the  King's  eyes  on 
him,  and  after  repeating  "  Sire  "  several  times,  his  con- 
fusion equalled  that  of  his  colleague,  and  he  could  only  add, 
"  Sire,  here  is  Bazire." 


\ 


276 


MADAME  DE  MAINTENON 


The  King,  highly  amused,  said:  "Gentlemen,  I  have  been 
informed  of  the  business  about  which  you  have  been 
deputed  to  wait  on  me,  and  I  will  have  the  matter  attended 
to,"  and  they  retired. 

Not  only  his  servants  but  his  children  stood  in  awe  of 
him,  and  even  when  his  son  the  Dauphin  had  attained 
manhood,  he  was  always  so  overwhelmed  when  his  father 
addressed  him,  that  he  could  seldom  do  anything  but 
stammer  and  fidget  with  his  hat. 

It  is  not  probable  that  Louis  ever  had  time  to  repair  the 
deficiences  of  his  early  education  as  far  as  Uterature  was 
concerned,  but  he  desired  to  be  known  as  a  patron  of  the 
arts  and  sciences,  and  his  ministers  were  commanded  to 
seek  out,  not  only  in  his  own  kingdom,  but  in  all  the  coun- 
tries of  Europe,  such  men  as  were  distinguishing  themselves 
by  talents  and  discoveries  and  inform  them  that,  though 
not  their  king,  he  hoped  to  be  allowed  to  be  their  bene- 
factor, and  to  bestow  on  them  bonuses  and  pensions  of 
considerable  amount. 

The  moving  principle  of  Louis  XIV.'s  whole  life  was  the 
idea,  with  which  he  was  so  intensely  imbued,  of  the  "  Divine 
Right  of  Kings,"  that  he  was  answerable  to  God  only,  as 
God's  heutenant,  and  that  he  was  beyond  and  above  criti- 
cism of  his  subjects  or  fellowmen.  In  this  view  he  was 
supported  by  the  ecclesiastics  of  the  time.  We  remember 
Bossuet's  celebrated  declaration,  that  kings  are  gods,  and 
on  another  occasion,  when  Louis  doubted  as  to  the  wisdom 
of  burdening  his  subjects  with  the  "  King's  Tithe,"  his  Con- 
fessor told  him  that  all  the  Doctors  of  the  Sorbonne  agreed 
that  the  property  of  the  people  was  really  the  property  of 
the  King,  and  that  if  he  confiscated  it  he  was  only  taking 
back  his  own. 


CHARACTER  OF  LOUIS  XIV  277 

This  theory,  together  with  the  possession  of  unlimited 
power  and  the  atmosphere  of  adulation  in  which  Louis 
lived,  fostered  his  self-love,  which  gradually  developed  into 
what  Saint  Beuve  designates  as  "  his  immense  and  hideous 
selfishness."  

A  courtier  says  of  him  in  later  life  :  "  I  noticed  that  as 
soon  as  the  conversation  turned  on  anything  but  himself  he 
began  to  yawn." 

This  selfishness  was  displayed  most  conspicuously  in  all 
his  dealings  with  women.  From  a  very  early  age  he  was 
extremely  susceptible  to  their  charms,  but  fickle  and  heart- 
less to  the  last  degree  in  his  relations  with  them.  Not  the 
most  lovely  and  loving  woman  in  the  world  could  hold  him 
long,  unless  besides  beauty  she  had  the  wit  to  amuse  him. 
The  Queen,  Marie  Therese  of  Spain,  was  a  very  pretty  young 
girl  at  the  time  of  her  marriage,  and  deeply  enamoured  of 
her  handsome  and  magnificent  young  husband,  but,  as  she 
was  not  clever  or  amusing,  he  very  soon  tired  of  her  and 
never  spared  her  feelings,  going  off  (when  f^tes  were  in 
progress)  in  a  carriage  with  Madame  de  Montespan,  or 
whoever  was  the  reigning  favourite  of  the  moment,  and 
leaving  the  Queen  and  her  ladies  to  follow  behind.  He 
even  made  Madame  de  Montespan  Superintendent  of  the 
Queen's  Household,  which  entailed  her  being  constantly  in 
the  Queen's  company  and  in  a  certain  degree  in  authority 
over  her ;  for  the  privileges  of  the  Lady  Superintendent 
were  so  extensive  that  they  were  at  least  a  restraint  on 
the  Queen.  They  included  a  right  to  nominate  to  employ- 
ment, settle  differences  between  holders  of  offices,  dismiss 
or^suspend  servants. 

Although  it  was  not  till  after  the  birth  of  Madame  de 
Montespan's  third  child  by  the  King  that  the  Queen  realised 


!ini 


278 


MADAME  DE  MAINTENON 


CHARACTER  OF  LOUIS  XIV 


279 


and  could  be  made  to  believe  in  the  extent  of  their  intimacy, 
her  grief  and  anger  were  then  unbounded,  but  more  directed 
against  Madame  de  Montespan  than  against  the  King,  to 
whom  she  continued  to  show  the  greatest  affection,  wishing 
him  to  thmk  of  her  as  his  best  friend,  and  she  never  re- 
proached him  with  his  infidelities.  On  her  deathbed  he 
said  to  her,  when  weeping  by  her  side :  "  Dear  friend,  this 
is  the  first  grief  you  have  caused  me  in  twenty  years/' 
Yet  he  did  not  scruple  to  go  out  hunting  while  her  funeral 
ceremonies  were  taking  place. 

As  he  had  not  scrupled  to  wound  the  Queen's  feelings, 
neither  did  he  hesitate  to  throw  aside  the  devoted  la  Val- 
li^re  when  his  fancy  turned  to  Madame  de  Montespan ;  so 
with  Madame  de  Montespan  he  was  equally  unscrupulous 
and  unf eeUng  when,  after  she  had  borne  him  seven  children, 

he  tired  of  her. 

Later  on,  when  the  Minister  Louvois  was  telling  her  that 
the  King  wished^her  to  retire  from  Court,  he  said :  "  You 
know  he  always  carries  out  his  wiShes,  whatever  anyone 
may  say  or  do,  and  generally  makes  it  the  worse  for 
anyone  who  opposes  him." 

>^  In  justice  to  Louis  it  must  be  said  that  he  had  made 
Madame  de  Montespan  immensely  wealthy,  and  she  lived 
after  her  retirement  from  Court  in  great  splendour. 

She  retained  her  beauty  to  the  last  in  spite  of  what 
Madame  de  Maintenon  calls  "  the  austerities  "  of  Court  life. 
"There  are  no  austerities  compared  with  those  of 
society,"  she  writes,  and  indeed  a  Court  lady  required  a 
constitution  of  iron.  A  Court  favourite  was  bound  to  be 
always  pleased  by  what  pleased  the  King.  She  must  be 
hungry  or  thirsty,  warm  or  cold  according  to  his  Majesty's 
pleasure. 


Ill  or  well  she  must  be  superbly  dressed,  low-necked, 
bare-headed ;  she  must  travel  in  this  guise,  and  endure, 
smilingly,  sun,  wind  and  dust ;  she  must  dance,  sit  up  late, 
sup  with  hearty  appetite,  be  gay  and  look  in  good  health 
on  the  days  and  hours  prescribed  by  the  King.  The 
journeys  were  the  greatest  trials  of  all.  In  his  youth 
Louis  loved  to  fill  his  immense  carriage  with  ladies  in  fine 
clothes.  No  matter  what  the  weather  might  be,  all  the 
windows  must  be  open  because  he  liked  fresh  air. 
Quantities  of  provisions  were  stowed  away.  Scarcely 
started,  the  ladies  were  forced  to  eat  until  they  nearly 
exploded,  for  the  King  had  a  royal  appetite,  and  expected 
the  ladies  to  keep  him  company.^  Some  of  the  ladies 
came  near  dying  on  the  road,  several  fainted,  and  thereby 
incurred  lasting  disgrace — it  was  an  unpardonable  offence.^ 

In  later  life,  when  Madame  de  Maintenon  became 
indispensable  to  the  King,  he  showed  her  no  more  con- 
sideration. Whatever  her  state  might  be,  the  King  would 
come  to  her  room  at  the  usual  hour,  attended  by  his  suite, 
without  thought  or  care  as  to  whether  it  might  be  agreeable 
to  her.  Even  if  she  had  a  severe  cold,  he  would  order  all 
the  windows  to  be  opened,  if  he  found  them  shut.  If  he 
required  cards  or  music,  her  headache  or  any  other  infirmity 
was  no  hindrance.  She  must  endure  it  all  without  com- 
plaint, with  a  hundred  candles  flaring  in  her  eyes — says 
St  Simon. 

Yet  so  great  was  the  desire  to  become  one  of  the  Court 
circle,  that  ladies  of  high  birth,  rich  and  independent,  were 
willing  to  undergo  such  slavery,  and  even  to  pay  large 

*  St  Simon  describes  the  enormous  quantity  of  food  the  King  would 
take  at  one  repast. 

•  Vide  Arv^de  Barine's  "  Princesses  and  Court  Ladies." 


y 


( 


28o 


MADAME  DE  MAINTENON 


sums  of  money  for  the  post  of  Lady  of  Honour  in  the 
Royal  Household. 

There  is  no  doubt  that,  after  middle  age,  Louis  became 
sincerely  religious,  as  religion  was  understood  in  those 
\  days.  He  brought  his  life  into  strict  conformity  with  the 
moral  law  and  was  strict  in  all  the  outward  observances  of 
religion.  But  there  is  no  touch  of  greatness  in  his  religious 
policy. 

One  of  the  greatest  mistakes  of  his  reign,  and  indeed  it 
may  well  be  called  a  crime,  was  the  Revocation  of  the 
Edict  of  Nantes,  by  which  King  Henri  IV.,  in  1598,  had 
given  to  the  Huguenots  (as  the  Protestants  of  France  were 
generally  called)  liberty  to  practise  the  tenets  of  their 
faith,  and  to  worship  according  to  its  rights,  unmolested — 
and  had  declared  them  eligible  for  all  the  offices  and 
dignities  of  State. 

When  in  1685  Louis  XIV.  revoked  this  Edict,  the  result 
w^s  that  hundreds  of  innocent  people  lost  their  lives  or 
endured  incredible  sufferings,  and  300,000  men  and 
women  of  the  most  respectable  classes  left  the  kingdom. 
They  carried  into  other  countries  the  arts  and  manu- 
factures in  which  they  were  skilled  ;  thus  France  was 
impoverished  and  other  countries,  notably  England, 
HoUand  and  Germany,  profited.  Among  the  emigrants 
were  600  officers  and  12,000  seasoned  soldiers — lost  to 
France  at  a  time  when  they  were  most  needed  to  turn  the 
tide  of  Louis's  ill-success  in  the  European  wars  in  which  he 
was  then  engaged. 

Louis  was  instigated  to  the  measure  by  the  Jesuits, 
who  influenced  him  through  his  Confessor  (who  was  of 
their  Order)  by  the  continual  remonstrances  of  Catholic 
bishops    and   archbishops,    and   by   his  great   Minister, 


CHARACTER  OF  LOUIS  XIV  281 

Louvois,  and  the  ChanceUor  le  TeUier.    The  latter  sang 
Nunc  Dimittis  after  signing  the  Revocation. 

Perhaps  it  was  owing  to  Madame  de  Maintenon's 
influence  that  persuasive  measures  were  tried  first.  The 
King  assigned  to  his  agents,  Pelisson  and  the  Bishop  of 
Grenoble,  large  revenues  for  the  benefit  of  those  who  were 
willing  to  conform.  When  these  measures  proved  un- 
successful, four  marshals  of  France,  with  their  forces,  were 
sent  in  succession  to  subdue  the  "  rebels,"  as  they  were 
termed,  and  atrocious  cruelties  and  persecutions  were  set 
on  foot  by  Louvois. 

It  was  said  that  Louis  wished  to  atone  for  the  sins  and 
irregularities  of  his  youth  by  this  effort  to  bring  about 
religious  unity  in  France,  and  establish  everywhere  what 
Churchmen  called  "Our  Holy  Religion ''—but  it  is 
probable  that  he  was  greatly  influenced  by  the  idea  that 
his  absolute  supremacy,  which  he  wished  to  enforce  in 
Church,  as  well  as  State,  was  menaced  by  the  privil^es 
of  the  Huguenots.i  He  thought  they  aimed  at  freedom 
of  the  Church  from  State  control  and  were  rebels  against 
his  cherished  dogma  of  absolute  authority. 

It  was  carrying  too  far  the  idea  that  prevailed  at  Court, 
that  men's  consciences,  and  everybody  and  everything 
must  yield  to  the  name  of  Louis. 

The  barbarities  inflicted  do  not  seem  to  have  offended 
public  opinion. 

Madame  de  S^vign6,  who  was  esteemed  one  of  the  most 
charming  and  lovable  women  of  the  day,  writes  :— 

iusi^oT'Tn^/''^^''K  ^^""^^^  ''  ^^^  amusement 
]ust  now.     To-day  they  have  taken  twenty  or  thirty 

persr'uTn't'hft'  tT""".^  1°  Huguenots  by  Henry  IV.,  and  account  of 
!^rx\V:L^':Z^  ^^^  ^^^^^^^-^^  -  ^-^ta^e.  ..  S,.cle  de 


282 


MADAME  DE  MAINTENON 


of  these  Huguenots  and  are  going  to  throw  them  off. 
My  brother-in-law  has  just  returned  from  a  fatiguing 
journey  to  pursue  and  punish  these  wretched  fellows. 
They  come  forth  from  their  holes  and  vanish  like 
ghosts  to  avoid  extermination.'* 

Thank  God  that  a  callous  indifference  to  human  suffering 
has  passed  away  with  "  the  good  old  times." 

The  spirit  of  compassion  is  abroad  in  the  world,  and 
in  these  days  no  forlorn  hope,  no  cause  of  the  oppressed 
or  suffering,  however  obscure  and  humble,  need  be  long 
without  its  champion. 

Whatever  his  motives  for  the  Revocation  of  the  Edict 
of  Nantes,  the  praises  of  Louis  resounded  in  the  pulpits  of 
the  churches.  On  the  Simday  following,  the  celebrated 
Bossnet  said,  in  referring  to  it :  "  In  this  event  we  see  the 
noblest  exercise  of  authority,  and  the  merits  of  the 
sovereign  are  recognised  and  revered.  Let  our  hearts 
overflow  with  joy  at  the  piety  of  Louis— let  us  raise  our 
acclamations  to  the  skies." 

Whatever  the  shortcomings  of  Christian  professors  in 
this  our  twentieth  century,  we  may  be  thankful  that  it  is 
no  longer  thought  possible  to  please  God  by  persecuting 
and  torturing  our  fellow-creatures  for  differences  of  opinion 
as  to  the  manner  in  which  our  Common  Father  is  to  be 
worshipped,  or  on  mysteries  that  He  has  willed  should 
remain  unknowable  in  this  our  present  state  of  existence. 

We  are  a  httle  nearer  the  Light  than  in  those  days,  we 
have  groped  our  way  a  few  steps  farther  back  towards  the 
true  spirit  of  the  Founder  of  Christianity — none  is  in  peril 
of  his  life  should  he  dare  to  refuse  to  be  bound  by  the 
doctrines  of  those  who  try  to  force  on  others  the  dogmas 
of  men  as  the  ordinances  of  God,  under  the  haughty 


CHARACTER  OF  LOUIS  XIV  283 

pretext  that  they  only  are  enlightened  and  sincere  and  can 
explain  what  God  has  not  made  clear. 

In  later  Hfe  Louis  fell  much  under  the  influence  of  his 
Jesuit  Confessor.  The  Keeper  of  the  King's  Conscience 
was  a  very  important  personage— almost  a  Minister  of 
State. 

Pere  de  la  Chaise,  who  filled  the  position  for  many  years' 
was  a  kindly,  wide-minded  man.  Of  him  it  was  said, 
"  He  was  a  happy  combination  of  several  men— he  was  by 
turns,  as  might  be  needful,  a  man  indulgent  or  severe  in 
preaching  ;  a  man  of  abstinence  or  an  epicure  ;  a  man  of 
the  world,  or  of  his  breviary." 

When  he  grew  old  and  his  health  was  enfeebled,  on  hear- 
ing that  there  were  no  terraces  or  gardens  at  the  Jesuit 
Monastrey  of  the  Rue  St  Antoine,  the  King  made  a  present 
to  his  Confessor  of  a  house  with  a  charming  garden  in  the 
suburb  of  Belle  Ville— and  sent  thither  rare  shrubs  and 
flowers  from  Versailles.  There  P^re  de  la  Chaise  had  daily 
a  numerous  Court  of  young  abbes,  old  priests,  barons, 
countesses,  marquises,  magistrates,  who  came  to  inquire 
for  his  health,  and  to  ask  for  themselves  or  friends  a 
bishopric,  a  cardinal's  hat,  a  Priory,  or  a  Canonry,  as 
the  case  might  be. 

We  hear  of  an  amusing  scene  when,  in  crossing  the  ante- 
chamber, he  dropped  his  handkerchief  and  three  portly 
bishops  at  once  flung  themselves  on  it,  vying  with  each 
other  as  to  who  should  be  the  one  to  hand  it  back  to 
him. 

All  his  influence  seems  to  have  been  exercised  for  good— 
on  his  deathbed  he  asked  the  King  as  a  special  favour  to 
choose  his  successor  from  among  the  Jesuits. 

Madame  de  Maintenon  hated  the  Jesuits.   She  writes:—   n/ 


i! 


If 


284 


MADAME  DE  MAINTENON 


"  The  name  of  Christ  is  alwa}^  in  their  mouths,  but 
they  do  not  copy  His  candour  and  humihty.  They  wish 
to  rule  everywhere.  They  want  to  get  me  under  their 
yoke,  but  God  forbid." 

Unfortunately  the  successor  to  P^re  de  la  Chaise  was  his 
very  opposite  in  character. 

The  choice  fell  on  Pere  le  TeUier,^  a  man  of  whom 
Voltaire  says,  "  He  did  all  the  harm  that  it  was  possible 
for  a  man  in  that  position  to  do." 

P^re  le  Tellier  seems  indeed  to  have  been  almost  the 
ideal  Jesuit  of  fiction — harsh,  laborious,  fanatical,  bigoted, 
false  and  imscrupulous,  with  no  God  but  the  interests  of 
his  Order — a  man  who,  boimd  by  the  vows  of  his  Order, 
could  hope  for  nothing  for  himself — not  an  apple  or  a 
glass  of  water  more  than  his  brethren,,  postponing  every 
other  consideration  to  that  of  power. 

The  Jesuits  seem  to  have  been  responsible  for  much  of 
the  inconsistency  between  profession  and  practice  which 
was  a  marked  feature  of  the  age.  With  a  Jesuit  at  hand 
the  most  profligate  had  no  occasion  to  despair.  Pardon 
could  be  obtained,  and  indulgence  bought,  if  recourse  was 
had  to  a  Jesuit  Confessor. 

Masters  of  most  of  the  Courts  of  Europe  through  their 
position  as  Confessors  to  the  Sovereign  ;  masters  of  almost 
every  state  through  their  instruction  of  youth — exercising 
authority  by  their  multifarious  knowledge  ;  winning  men's 
affections  by  every  art,  formidable  from  their  power  and 
wealth — and  subordinating  all  other  considerations  to  the 
welfare  of  their  Order,  such  were  the  Jesuits  in  the 
seventeenth  century. 

»  Not  to  be  confounded  with  the  Chancellor  le  Tellier,  to  whom  he 
was  not  related. 


CHARACTER  OF  LOUIS  XIV  285 

Under  the  influence  of  P^re  le  Tellier,  Louis  sanctioned  the 
system  of  rehgious  intolerance  which  led  to  the  persecution 
of  the  Jansenists  and  Quietists,  the  destruction  of  the  Port 
Royal,  and  the  enforced  acceptance  of  the  BuU  Unigenitus 
-and  this  system  of  rehgious  intolerance  contributed,  as 
much  as  the  derangement  of  finance,  brought  about  by 
the  expenses  of  unsuccessful  wars,  and  the  bad  seasons 
which  caused  famine  and  the  misery  of  the  people    to 
obhterate  in  the  minds  of  Louis  the  XIV. 's  subjects'  aU 
that  he  had  previously  accomplished  that  was  great  and 
memorable. 


il 


i 


I 


CHAPTER  XXVI 

MADAME    DE     MAINTENON     RETIRES     TO     END    HER     DAYS 

AT   ST   CYR 

REAT  doubt  was  felt  as  to  what  course  would  be 
taken  subsequent  to  the  King's  death  by 
the  Regent,  d'Orleans. 

There  were  those  who  thought  he  might 
owe  Madame  de  Maintenon  a  grudge  on  account  of  the 
King's  will,i  and  might  attempt  to  humUiate  her  and 
interfere  with  her  liberty. 

When  the  King  became  unconscious  Marechal  Villeroi 
and  the  Due  de  NoaiUes  urged  Madame  de  Maintenon's 
immediate  retreat  to  St  Cyr. 

Her  departure  before  the  King  had  actually  breathed  his 
last  being  one  of  the  actions  of  Madame  de  Maintenon  that 
has  been  the  most  adversely  criticised,  it  is  necessary  to 
give  a  detailed  account  of  her  conduct  during  these  last 

days. 

Mademoiselle  d'Aumale  was  m  the  King's  room  with 
Madame  de  Maintenon  most  of  the  time,  and  we  take  her 

accoimt  as  correct. 

When  he  gave  Madame  de  Maintenon  the  chaplet,  he 
gave  Mademoiselle  d'Aumale  the  bon-bon  box  which  he 
used  daily,  a  little  round  box  made  of  mother-of-pearl 

X  Which  gave  the  custody  of  the  httle  Louis  XV.  to  the  Duo  du 
4     Maine,  not  to  the  Regent,    and  otherwise  diminished    the    latter  s 
powers. 


ENDS  HER  DAYS  AT  ST  CYR     287 

with  a  gold  rim— which  her  descendants  possess  at  the 
present  day. 

During  his  illness  Madame  de  Maintenon  remained  with 
the  King  day  and  night,  only  leaving  the  room  occasionaUy 
to  hide  her  tears.  He  bade  her  good-bye  three  times,  on 
three  successive  days.  On  the  first  day  he  said  the  only 
thing  that  made  him  regret  that  he  was  dying  was  that  he 
must  be  parted  from  her.  On  the  second  he  expressed 
regret  that  he  had  not  made  her  happy,  and  he  shed 
tears. 

On  the  third  day  he  said  :  "  What  will  become  of  you  ? 
You  have  nothing." 

She  rephed,  "  I  am  nothing.     Think  of  God  only." 

She  then  left  him,  but  on  returning  asked  him  to  bespeak 
the  protection  of  the  Due  d'Orleans  for  her. 

Louis  also  said,  "You  must  have  great  courage  to 
watch  such  a  sight.  Do  not  stay  here ;  I  hope  the  end  will 
soon  come." 

On  the  evening  of  the  28th  the  King  being  unconscious, 
she  went  to  St  Cyr  to  perform  her  devotions,  but  the, 
medicine  of  a  quack,  which  had  been  tried  as  a  last' 
resource,  revived  the  King,  and  on  hearing  this  Madame  de 
Maintenon  returned  to  the  palace  and  stayed  with  him  the 
whole  of  the  29th  and  30th.  On  the  evening  of  the  30th, 
as  he  had  been  unconscious  all  day,  and  she  was  told 
he  would  not  recover  consciousness,!  she  went  finaUy  to'St 
Cyr. 

She  entered  Marechal  ViUeroy's  coach  and  proceeded 
thither,  escorted  by  his  guards  and  accompanied  by  her 
secretary,  MademoiseUe  d'Aumale      She  said,  "  I  have 

/  The  Dowager  Duchesse  d'Orleans  wrote  :  "  Everyone  thought  the 
King  was  dead  when  Madame  de  Maintenon  left." 


\\\ 


^ 


288  MADAME  DE  MAINTENON 

seen  a  great  King  die  like  a  saint  and  a  hero,  and  now  I 
have  nothing  to  think  of  but  my  own  salvation  and  works 

of  charity." 

Next  morning  news  that  the  King  had  passed  away 
reached  St  Cyr,  and  as  a  means  of  makmg  it  known  to  her, 
Mademoiselle  d'Aumale  announced  that  the  whole  Com- 
munity were  awaiting  her  in  the  chapel. 

Madame  de  Maintenon  understood.  She  at  once  took 
her  place  in  the  choir  to  assist  at  the  offices  for  the  dead, 
and  next  day  was  present  at  the  Requiem. 

For  thirty  years  she  had  shared  the  King's  life  and  his 
cares  ;   now  the  strain  was  over  and  there  was  a  sense  of 

relief. 

She  felt  no  vivid  regret  for  him,  she  was  thankful  that 
/  she  had  accomplished  her  task  of  bringing  him  to  God,  and 
she  certainly  acted  up  to  her  own  words— i.e.  that  she 
wished  only  to  be  forgotten. 

Her  bitterest  enemies  are  obliged  to  acknowledge  that 
she  took  part  in  no  intrigues,  even  during  aU  the  troubles 
that  befell  her  beloved  Due  du  Maine,  after  the  setting 
aside  of  the  King's  will ;  and  she  could  never  be  induced 
even  to  make  a  remark  or  give  an  opinion  on  public  matters, 
except  occasionally  in  commenting  to  Madame  de  Caylus 

on  her  letters. 

Two  days  after  the  King's  death,  Madame  de  Maintenon 

wrote  as  follows  to  Madame  de  Villette  :— 

"  What  a  loss  has  befallen  us  !  The  King  has  died 
the  death  of  the  righteous  and  in  the  fulness  of  his  years, 
as  the  Wise  Man  said.  „,^\  ,. 

"  I  shall  not  survive  him  long.  What  happmess  can 
there  be  for  me  henceforth  in  the  world  ?  I  long  to 
reioin  in  heaven  the  pure  and  noble  soul  with  which  my 
mind  and  heart  have  so  long  been  filled  and  occupied ; 


ENDS  HER  DAYS  AT  ST  CYR  289 

Ss^Sn^^^^^  instant  that  God 

him  ;    we  shall  do  weU  if'we  S  thrl^.f  .^"  'f'^ 

the'^Sc  Xr  "'  "  ^'^^'     '"  '^P^^-^-  the  Regent 

"  I  come."  he  said,  "  to  assure  you  of  mv  svmn.^K    • 
your  grief,  and  that  I  wish  to  secure  f o  Z  Lmfr 
sideration  that  you  may  desire."  °"" 

Madame  de  Maintenon  renhed  •  "  t  f^^i    i 

esteem  f„  yo«,»lf  is  a„  eoLTstrL      7  Personal 

M...™;^',*:^..^'  ""'^  "«>■"-•■■  replied 
finances.  I  ^tZ,„,  1"'°^?'"'"" '■'■™' 
employed  i„  „,ievi„,  ^  "L  ^^I'ZTl  df  ", 
Wish  to  desert.     I  shall  orav  PnH  f  °  "*'* 

burden  of  the  Go.e2Z:Zu:tljZT  '""  ^°  ''' 
;  I^ready  begin  to  feel  i[s  ^S^^^^^:^^ 
Madame  de  Maintenon  finished  by  begging  hfm'not  to 

1  XJ • 


s 


*  Her  pension  of  80.000  francs. 


290  MADAME  DE  MAINTENON 

beUeve  any  reports  that  might  reach  his  ears  to  the  effect 

that  she  was  intriguing  against  him  in  the  interests  of  the 

Due  du  Maine.  ,       , 

"  I  know  "  said  she,  "  the  malice  of  mankmd  ;  you  also 
know  it.  My  age,  my  inchnations,  all  impose  silence  on 
me.     I  have  no  desire  but  to  live  in  absolute  seclusion, 

forgotten  by  the  world."  ,.  ^  .,     r,        + 

"And  I  protest  to  you,  Madame,"  replied  the  Regent, 
"  that  in  me  you  shall  always  find  a  friend  and  St  Cyr  a 
protector.  I  shall  always  be  ready  to  serve  you,  and  you 
should  address  yourself  only  to  me."  ,,,>,, 

On  leaving  Madame  de  Maintenon's  apartment  the 
Regent  remarked  to  the  Superior  of  St  Cyr,  that  he  was 
suiprised  to  find  their  distinguished  inmate  in  so  small  a 
room  The  Superior  informed  him  that  Madame  de 
Maintenon  had  given  up  the  fine  apartment  assigned  to  her 
by  the  late  King,  to  be  used  as  an  infirmary. 

The  Regent  was  not  without  generosity  and  good  feeling, 
and  on  the  return  journey,  when  one  of  the  roues  who 
formed  his  Court  ventured  to  make  some  mocking  re- 
marks   at    the    expense  of    Madame  de  Maintenon,  he 

stopped  him,  saying :  ,     ,       j  j  f„ 

"What  harm  has  she  done  you  ?     She  has  done  good  to 

a  great  many  people,  and  injured  no  one." 

After  the  sum  entered  on  the  Pension  List  as  pay- 
able to  Madame  de  Maintenon,  the  Regent  mserted 
the  words :   "  which  her  disinterestedness  has  rendered 

necessary."  ,. 

All  the  other  members  of  the  royal  family  sent  to  ask 
permission  to  pay  her  tjieir  respects  ;  but  she  begged  them 
to  spare  themselves  the  trouble,  saying  that  henceforth 
she  desired  nothing  but  solitude  and  quiet. 


ENDS  HER  DAYS  AT  ST  CYR     291 

Only  the  Due  du  Maine »  was  admitted,  and  the  Queen 

of  England  (widow  of  James  II.),  with  whom  Madame  de 

Maintenon  had  always  lived  on  terms  of  affectionate 
intimacy. 

All  the  ministers  wrote  to  offer  their  condolences  to 
Madame  de  Maintenon,  and  many  great  people  presented 
themselves  at  her  door,  which,  however,  was  opened  only 
to  her  cousin,  M.  d'Aubigne,  Archbishop  of  Rouen  (who  up 
to  the  last  was  most  faithful  in  his  attentions),  Mardchal 
Villeroy  and  the  Marquise  de  Dangeau,  and  her  own  three 
nieces. 

She  summoned  those  who  had  been  in  her  service  at 
Court,  thanked  them  for  their  attachment,  and  gave  to 
each  a  sum  sufficient  to  establish  them  in  hfe.  She  sold 
her  possessions  and  made  a  present  of  her  coach  to  her 
niece,  Madame  de  Caylus,  who  was  afraid  to  use  it,  and 
left  it  as  an  heirloom  to  her  son. 

At  the  time  of  Madame  de  Maintenon's  retirement  to 
St  Cyr,  Madame  de  Glapion,  a  lady  after  her  own  heart  was 
Superior.  Madame  de  Maintenon  would  not  take  ad- 
vantage of  the  clause  in  the  royal  letters  patent  relating 
to  the  foundation  of  St  Cyr,  which  provided  that  she  and 
her  household  were  to  be  entertained  at  the  charges  of  the 
institution.  She  insisted  on  paying  the  sum  of  4000 
hvres  a  year  for  the  expenses  of  herself  and  her  servant 
Nanon.  ' 

At  VersaiUes  her  supper  consisted  of  a  cup  of  chocolate. 
At  St  Cyr,  though  served  in  her  own  rooms,  she  had  the 
same  fare  as  the  nuns,  but  partook  only  of  one  dish  and 
the  dessert. 

*  He  afterwards  continued  to  visit  her anH  „o^^  *.    u 

to  see  her,  and  taught  them  to  treat  her  a.\°  grI'drotW.'  '"  '='"'""     ' 


292  MADAME  DE  MAINTENON 

She  received  numerous  letters,  and  answered  many  of 

them  herself ;  she  passed  her  time  in  reading,  wntmg  and 

attending  Mass,  and  also  occupied  herself  with  the  affairs 

of  the  inmates  of  St  Cyr. 
St  Simon  said  : — 

"  No  Abbess,  nor  Daughter  of  France,  was  so  punctu- 
ally obeyed,  so  feared  Ind  respected  and  at  the  same 
S  toved,  as  Madame  de  Maintenon  was  at  St  Cyr. 

After  her  retirement  to  St  Cyr,  Madame  de  Maintenon 
and  Madame  de  Caylus  kept  up  a  regular  correspondence- 
thev  did  not  trust  to  the  post,  fearing  their  letters  might  be 
opened  but  an  old  servant  of  Madame  de  Maintenon, 
Etienne,  went  backwards  and  forwards  between  them, 
Madame  de  Caylus  giving  her  the  news  of  the  day. 

In  a  letter  dated  January  1716,  Madame  de  Mamtenon 

wrote : — 

"  Your  letters  are  the  only  amusement  of  my  sad  life. 
I  await  them  with  impatience  Ipd^ed  having  been 
arrnstomed  to  hear  so  much  of  affairs  of  State,  1  can 
never  become  indifferent  to  them,  though  Marechal 
ViUeroy  always  accused  me  of  bemg  ill-informed. 

Every  day  she  tried  to  diminish  her  personal  expenses 
in  order  to  have  more  to  give  to  the  poor.  She  had 
always  loved  perfumes ;  now  she  gave  up  the  use  ot 
them,  saying  :— 

"  He  for  whose  sake  I  allowed  myself  to  use  them  is 

"^^-trJnot'weep  for  the  King  who  is  now  at -st ; 
but  it  is  hard  to  know  of  so  much  suffering,  and  to  have 
so  httle  power  to  reheve  it." 

Mademoisells  d'Aumale  writes :— 


<( 


ENDS  HER  DAYS  AT  ST  CYR    293 

Ti,  \  '^!P*  ^  account  of  her  expenses  for  1717-1718 
The  first  year  they  amounted  to  seventy  thousand  nine 
hundred  and  forty  livres,  and  the  second  year  to  sixty- 
eight  thousand,  five  hundred  and  forty-five,  out  of  which 
she  had  only  spent  on  herself  the  price  of  a  few  scarves 
and  robes  de  chambre.  The  rest  all  went  in  alms ; 
She  often  gave  considerable  sums  under  an  assumed 

The  Czar,  Peter  the  Great,  visited  Paris  in  1717.  He 
expressed  a  great  desire  to  see  Madame  de  Maintenon 
on  hearing  which  she  took  refuge  in  bed.  But  even  there 
she  was  not  safe.  The  Czar  came  to  St  Cyr,  entered  her 
room,  drew  back  the  bed  curtains,  and  asked  what  her 
sickness  was.  She  replied,  "  Une  grande  vieillesse,"  then 
after  a  prolonged  stare,  the  Czar  withdrew  without  another 
word.' 

Madame  de  Maintenon  was  not  spared  a  last  proof  of 
the  mstabiUty  of  all  worldly  greatness,  exemplified  in  the 
misfortunes  that  overtook  her  dearly-loved  Due  du 
Maine. 

By  his  will  Louis  XIV.  had  d^reed  that  the  Due  du 
Maine  should  become  Governor  and  Tutor  to  the  young 
King,  and,  in  the  event  of  the  child's  death,  should  himself 
succeed  to  the  throne,  to  the  exclusion  of  the  Orleans 
branch.     Hardly  was  the  breath  out  of  the  late  King's 
body  than  the  Regent  and  Pariiament  set  aside  the  will 
stnpped  the  Due  du  Maine  of  all  authority  and  privileges' 
and  even  deprived  him  and  his  brother,  the  Comte  de 
Toulouse,  of  their  rank  as  Princes  of  the  Blood,  reducing 
them  to  the  status  of  simple  dukes,  at  the  bottom  of  the 
list.* 

\This  story  is  well  authenticated,  though  it  seems  incredible  that  such 
an  intrusion  should  have  been  allowed  "creaioie  tnat  such 

«  Before  her  death  worse  befell.     The  Due  du  Maine  and  hi3  wife 


r 


294  MADAME  DE  MAINTENON 

The  winter  of  1719  was  long  and  severe.  Madame  de 
Maintenon  grew  graduaUy  weaker,  and  felt  her  end 
approaching.  At  the  beginning  of  April  she  said  to 
Mademoiselle  d'Aumale :  "  While  my  head  is  clear  and  I 
am  alone  with  you,  let  us  do  business  once  more.  Send  my 
poor  people  their  pensions  in  advance.  I  wish  to  do  them 
a  Uttle  good  once  more  before  I  die." 

On  the  14th  April  she  became  worse.  Extreme  Unction 
was  administered,  and  the  Confessor  begged  her  to  give 
her  blessing  to  the  Community. 

She  replied,  "  I  am  not  worthy,"  but  the  Confessor 
insisting,  she  complied. 

The  Due  de  Noailles  was  kneeling  at  her  bedside.  To  him 
she  said :  "  Adieu,  my  dear  Duke.  A  few  hours  hence  I 
shall  understand  many  things."  She  died  listening  to  the 
hymns  sung  by  the  pupils  of  St  Cyr. 

Madame  de  Maintenon  was  eighty-three  years  old  when 
she  breathed  her  last  on  15th  April  1719  at  5  p-m.  Her 
corpse,  dressed  in  a  long  mourning  robe,  was  embalmed, 
and  with  uncovered  face  lay  in  state. 

The  ladies  of  St  Louis,  each  conducting  a  class,  passed 
in  procession  before  the  bier  and  sprinkled  it  with  holy 
water  ;  many  approached  to  kiss  the  hands  of  their  late 
benefactress,    or    the    funeral    draperies    that    covered 

^Next  day  the  coffin  was  transferred  to  the  choir  of  the 
church,  and  her  nephew,  the  Due  de  Noailles,  caused  a 
grave  to  be  excavated  near  the  entrance  to  the  sanctuary, 
and  a  large  slab  of  black  marble  marked  the  spot. 

were  imprisoned  on  the  charge  of  conspiring  against  the  ^^^'^^^^ 
Ter  a't^tion  on  hearing  this  is  supposed  to^-eacce  crated  Madame 
de  M^tenon's  death.     Particulars  m  Chapter  XXVIII. 


ENDS  HER  DAYS  AT  ST  CYR    295 

The  Abbe  Vitor  composed  an  epitaph,  which  was  en- 
graved upon  it : — 

"  Here  rests  Madame  Frangoise  d'Aubigne 
Marquise  de  Maintenon. 
An  illustrious,  truly  Christian  woman. 
Her  birth  was  noble  ;   her  wit,  virtue,  prudence 

and  modesty  were  early  recognised. 
In  all  the  vicissitudes  of  life  she  was  the  same. 
Tranquil  amid  the  agitations  of  a  Court, 
Simple  in  the  midst  of  grandeur,  poor  amid  riches, 
Humble  at  the  summit  of  honour. 
Revered  by  Louis  the  Great,  and  enveloped  in  his 

glory 
She  only  used  her  influence  for  good. 
She  was  the  Mother  of  the  Poor,  and  the  shelter 

of  the  unfortunate.'* 

The  two  abbes,  Tiberge  and  Brisacier,  Superiors  of  the 
Seminaires  des  Missions  etrang^res,  who  filled  the  office  of 
Confessors  at  St  Cyr,  writing  to  condole  with  the  ladies  of 
St  Cyr  on  the  death  of  Madame  de  Maintenon,  paid  this 
remarkable  testimony  to  her  worth  : 

"  You  have  lost  one  who,  after  God,  must  have  been 
the  most  precious  to  you.  Sorrow  not  without  hope. 
For  whom  could  there  be  the  expectation  of  a  happy 
eternity  if  not  for  her,  who  has  laid  at  the  feet  of  the 
Supreme  Judge  immense  treasures  of  merit  and  virtues ; 
alms  innumerable,  long  and  frequent  prayers,  help,  of 
all  kinds  to  all  sorts  of  people,  secret  mortifications,  and 
humihations  humbly  received  while  in  a  glorious  position, 
work  and  effort  unrelaxed,  unlimited  patience,  this  you 
have  witnessed  for  thirty  years — while  besides  what  you 
have  seen,  she  performed  at  Court  a  thousand  actions  of 
heroic  generosity,  gave  salutary  advice,  and  forgave 
injuries  and  calumnies  without  being  deceived  by  the 
authors.  Although  it  would  have  been  easy  to  revenge 
herself  on  her  enemies  she  never  did  so. 

"  This  heroic  woman  was  capable  of  taking  part  in  the 


296 


MADAME  DE  MAINTENON 


most  important  affairs, but  condescended  to  the  smallest. 
Her  whole  life  has  been  a  wonderful  example  for  the 
world.  Her  early  days  were  a  succession  of  trials  ;  her 
virtue  and  purity  in  the  midst  of  the  world  and  at  the 
height  of  favour,  a  miracle  of  grace  ;  her  retreat  and  her 
death  most  holy,  and  the  degree  of  glory  in  which  there 
is  reason  to  hope  she  will  reappear  at  the  day  of  judg- 
ment, will  astonish  those,  who  through  ignorance  or 
mahgnity  have  misjudged  her.  May  her  spirit  live 
eternally  among  you." 

Madame  de  Maintenon's  memory  was  cherished  at  St 
Cyr  so  long  as  the  institution  existed.  Her  thoughts  and 
writings,  her  sayings  and  opinions,  were  always  quoted. 
Everything  that  belonged  to  her  was  considered  a  sacred 
relic.  Her  room  remained  untouched  and  was  used  only 
as  a  Council  Chamber,  and  in  it  were  placed  (beside  her 
portrait  and  that  of  Louis  XIV.)  the  portraits  of  the  suc- 
ceeding Queens  of  France,  and  of  those  of  the  royal  family 
to  whom  St  Cyr  owed  special  respect  and  gratitude. 

Madame  de  Maintenon  had  said  to  the  Superior  of  St 
Cyr  :  "  Your  house  shall  never  fail  you  as  long  as  there  is 
a  King  of  France." 

This  held  good  till  the  Revolution  broke  out  in  1793, 
when  the  inmates  were  dispersed,  the  buildings  partially 
demolished,  and  the  body  of  the  foundress  torn  from  its 
grave. 

In  1794  the  Revolutionary  Government  wished  to  turn 
the  '  chapel  into  a  hospital.  The  tomb  of  Madame  de 
Maintenon  was  opened  and  the  body  (which  was  in  a 
state  of  perfect  preservation)  taken  out  and  thrown  into  a 
hastily  dug  hole  in  the  garden. 

In  1802  St  Cyr,  which  had  been  used  as  a  home  for 
wounded  soldiers,  was  turned  into  a  college,   and  the 


ENDS  HER  DAYS  AT  ST  CYR    297 

principal,  Citizen  Crouzot,  had  the  body  of  Madame  de 
Maintenon  exhumed  and  placed  with  some  ceremony  in  a 
tomb  in  the  courtyard,  into  which  the  windows  of  her 
apartments  had  looked.  An  iron  railing  was  placed 
round  this  tomb  and  some  willow  trees  overshadowed  it. 
However,  it  was  not  allowed  to  remain  long  undisturbed. 

In  1805  St  Cyr  became  a  military  school,  and  the 
commandant.  General  Dutheil,  detesting  the  memory  of 
Madame  de  Maintenon,  whom  he  blamed  for  the  persecu- 
tion of  the  Huguenots,  had  the  tomb  opened  and  the  re- 
mains cast  into  a  wooden  packing-case,  which  was  placed 
in  a  bam. 

Finally,  in  1836,  Colonel  Baraguey-d'HiUiers  was 
appointed  Governor  of  the  Military  College  of  St  Cyr,  which 
had  been  estabhshed  on  the  site  of  the  original  building, 
part  of  which  remained  and  had  been  restored  and  added 
to.  The  Governor  occupied  the  rooms  which  had  been 
Madame  de  Maintenon's,  and  was  much  affected  on  finding 
that  her  remains  had  been  relegated  to  an  outhouse. 

He  obtained  permission  from  the  Government  to  restore 
them  to  the  chapel.  A  slab  of  black  marble  let  into  the 
wall  above  the  place  of  burial  may  still  be  seen. 

On  it  is  the  simple  inscription  : — 

"Cy  git  Madame  de  Maintenon 
1635-1719.     1836" 

This  is  the  only  existing  memorial  of  her  whom  friends 
and  foes  alike  acknowledge  to  have  been  one  of  the  most  ' 
remarkable  women  who  ever  played  a  part  in  the  history  of 
France. 


( 


(( 


<( 


<< 


(( 


CHAPTER  XXVII 

SOME  ACCOUNT  OF  WHAT  BEFELL  THOSE  MEMBERS  OF 
MADAME  DE  MAINTENON'S  INNER  CIRCLE  WHO  SUR- 
VIVED HER 


HE  money  left  by  Madame  de  Maintenon 
amounted  only  to  32,000  francs.  Her 
will  was  as  follows  : — 


"  I  wish  to  be  interred  with  the  Ladies  of 
Saint-Louis. 

I  give  them  to  say  masses  for  me,  1000  livres. 
To  the  poor  of  my  estate,  2000  livres. 
To  Launay,  my  valet-de-chambre,  3000  livres. 
To  Mademoiselle  de  Saignemontes,  sister  of  la  petite 
de  la  Tour,  3000  livres,  if  she  does  not  make  her  profession 
at  Saint-Cyr  ;  and  if  she  does,  these  3000  livres  will  be 
placed  in  the  fund  there  established  for  the  pupils. 

"  To  Mademoiselle  de  la  Clavieres,  sister  to  Mademois- 
elle de  la  Tour,  the  same  sum  of  3000  livres  on  the  same 
conditions. 

To  the  Benedictines  of  Moret,  2000  livres. 
Any  money  that  may  remain  after  these  distribu- 
tions, I  desire  may  be  divided  between  Madame  de  Mailly 
and  Madame  de  Caylus. 

"  My  plate  and  my  principal  furniture  to  be  divided 
between  Madame  de  Caylus  and  Mademoiselle  d'Aumale. 
The  articles  are  all  marked. 

"  I  give  to  the  Duchesse  de  Noailles  the  diamond  that 
I  always  wear. 

"  I  give  to  the  Bishop  of  Chartres  the  gold  and  black 
table  crucifix. 
"  I  give  to  the  Archbishop  of  Rouen  ^  a  crucifix  on 

*  He  was  her  cousin,  a  d'Aubign6  of  the  Anjou  line.     Madame  de 
•98 


(( 


t€ 


\ 


<  * 


/ 


/ 


/ 


N' 


(( 


(( 


SURVIVORS  OF  THE  INNER  CIRCLE   299 

black  velvet,  which  is  at  the  head  of  my  bed,  with  the 
small  portrait  of  the  King  which  is  beneath,  requesting 
that  it  may  always  be  kept  by  those  of  my  name,  who 
will  regard  it  with  the  veneration  and  gratitude  that  it 
deserves. 

To  my  women  I  give  my  linen. 

I  desire  that  all  my  little  private  books  be  placed 
in  the  hands  of  Madame  du  P^ron.^  And  I  beg  the 
Bishop  of  Chartres  to  allow  her  to  keep  them  all  her 
life:  she  will  see  in  them  the  instructions  of  her 
predecessor." 

She  left  in  small  pensions  iioo  livres  to  various  persons 
whom  she  had  protected. 

At  the  back  of  the  will  was  written,  "  I  recommend  la 
petite  de  la  Tour  to  the  Superior,  and  to  all  the  Com- 
munity." 

To  this  will,  as  we  have  before  stated,  was  added  the 
account  of  the  Regent's  visit  to  her  at  St  Cyr.  "  This," 
says  Mademoiselle  d'Aumale,  "  was  not  without  design." 

Nothing  was  said  about  the  marquisate  of  Maintenon, 
for  that  had  been  already  bestowed  as  a  dowry  on  her  niece, 
the  Duchesse  de  Noailles. 

The  "  Petite  de  la  Tour,"  in  whom  Madame  de  Main- 
tenon  had  taken  so  much  interest,  was  one  of  a  family 

Maintenon  valued  this  relationship — and  also  esteemed  the  man  for  his 
sterling  quahties. 

^  M.  Bonhomme,  editor  of  Madame  de  Maintenon 's  "  Authentic  Corre- 
spondence," obtained  one  of  these  Uttle  books.  It  contains  i8o  pages, 
three  parts  of  which  are  in  her  own  handwriting,  the  rest  is  written  by 
Mademoiselle  D'Aumale  and  Nanon.  In  it  is  the  quintessence  of  the 
spiritual  instruction  received  from  her  Father  Confessors.  When  a 
precept  struck  her  she  copied  it  into  this  little  volume  and  it  (the 
precept)  became  part  of  her  rule  of  hfe. 

It  was  the  vade  mecum  of  Madame  de  Maintenon  —the  book  she  kept 
on  her  pillow. 

It  has  a  brown  cover  and  seems  impregnated  with  the  perfume  of 
the  great  century. 


300 


MADAME  DE  MAINTENON 


of  twenty,  belonging  to  a  gentleman  of  good  condition 
but  poor  circumstances  in  Auvergne. 

A  few  words  must  be  said  of  those  who  had  been  most 
intimately  connected  with  the  life  of  Madame  de  Maintenon. 

Madame  de  Caylus  survived  her  aunt  ten  years,  during 
which  the  Due  de  Villeroy  visited  her  daily  until  her  death, 
which  nearly  caused  his  ;  for  though  they  sometimes  bored 
each  other,  their  companionship  had  been  such  a  habit  that 
the  cessation  must  have  left  a  terrible  blank  in  the  life  of 
the  survivor. 

She  dictated  her  Souvenirs  to  her  son,  in  her  latter 
years.; 

Mademoiselle  d'Aumale  enjoyed  a  pension  bestowed  on 
her  by  Louis  XIV.  and  went  to  live  with  her  mother  in 
Piccardy,  but  paid  visits  to  St  Cyr,  and  also  to  Madame 
d'Havrincourt,  who  had  been  a  fellow-pupil  at  St  Cyr,  and 
had  preceded  her  as  Madame  de  Maintenon's  secretary. 
She  occupied  herself  in  writing  her  reminiscences.  During 
the  reign  of  Louis  XV.  she  occasionally  went  to  Court, 
and  was  always  well  received,  but  was  looked  upon  rather 
as  an  "  antiquity,"  a  relic  of  the  old  Court. 

In  her  last  letter  she  wrote :  "  The  Holy  Virgin,  the  King, 
Madame  de  Maintenon,  and  then  St  Cyr,  have  been  the 
objects  of  my  devoted  affection." 

She  was  building  a  house  which  she  intended  to  bequeath 
to  her  nephews  and  nieces — and  she  had  the  following  lines 
inscribed  on  the  foundation  stone  : — 

"  Built  in  the  name  of  the  Father,  the  Son,  and  the 
Holy  Ghost  and  under  the  protection  of  the  Virgin  Mary 
by  Marie- Jeanne  d'Aumale,  who  was  brought  up  from 
the  age  of  seven  till  she  was  twenty  in  the  Royal  House  of 
St  Cyr.  On  leaving  that  house  she  went  to  live  with 
Madame  de  Maintenon  and  was  honoured  by  her  favour 


SURVIVORS  OF  THE  INNER  CIRCLE   301 

and  that  of  the  late  King  which  has  enabled  her  to  build 
this  house  for  her  family,  whom  she  prays  that  God  will 
preserve  united  under  the  Pontificate  of  Innocent 
XIII." 

Mademoiselle  d'Aumale  died  at  Soissons,  1756,  being 
seventy- three  years  old. 

Madame  de  Maintenon's  cousin,  the  Archbishop  of  Rouen, 
survived  her.  The  world  in  general,  though  admitting  him 
to  be  a  good  man,  had  not  so  high  an  opinion  of  this  d'Au- 
bigne  as  Madame  de  Maintenon  had.  His  death  was 
announced  in  the  Gazette  de  le  R^gence  as  follows  : — 

'*  L'Archv^que  d'Aubign^  est  mort  samedi,  sans  avoir 
rendu  Tesprit,  parcequ'il  n'en  avait  pas.  C'etaitun 
Constitutionnaire.  II  etait  pour  les  cent  et  une  pro- 
positions,^ et  n'en  entendit  pas  une." 

Misfortune  overtook  the  Due  du  Maine  in  his  latter 
days  through  the  instrumentality  of  his  wife.  When  the 
decree  of  17 17  had  deprived  him  and  his  brother  of  the 
right  of  succession  to  the  throne,  and  their  rank  as  Princes 
of  the  Blood,  his  wife  could  not  believe  that  he  would  sub- 
mit without  a  struggle,  and  though  he  did  so,  and  bore  his 
misfortunes  with  dignity  and  resignation,  she  was  deter- 
mined to  leave  no  stone  unturned  in  the  effort  to  obtain  the 
restitution  of  the  privileges  conferred  by  Louis  XIV. 

At  this  time  Cardinal  Alberoni,  the  Spanish  Prime 
Minister,  was  working  to  excite  dissensions  in  France  for 
the  benefit  of  his  master,  the  King  of  Spain,  for  whom  he 
wished  to  obtain  the  throne  of  France,  if  the  young  King 
Louis  XV.,  a  frail  child,  should  die. 

Cellamare  was  the  Spanish  Ambassador  at  Paris.    The 

*  Bull  Unigenitus. 


302 


MADAME  DE  MAINTENON 


Duchesse  du  Maine  had  been  intriguing  with  him  in  a  most 
incautious  way,  and  took  such  extraordinary  methods  to 
ensure  the  secrecy  of  her  plot  that  the  poUce  soon  got  wind 
of  it.  She  hired  a  house  in  the  Rue  St  Honor^  and  used  to 
go  there  at  midnight,  driven  by  a  nobleman  disguised  as  a 
coachman,  to  meet  her  fellow-conspirators,  Malezien,  ex- 
tutor  to  the  Due  du  Maine,  and  Cardinal  Pohgnac,  whom 
she  had  induced  to  join  her.  Others  in  the  plot  were  the 
Abbe  Brigault,  Comte  Laval,  and  the  Marquis  de  Pom- 
padour ;  they  held  their  meetings  at  Port  Royal,  and  were 
presided  over  by  Madame  de  Staal  Delaunay,  lady-in- 
waiting  to  the  Duchesse  du  Maine. 

The  Duchesse  du  Maine  used  to  receive  crowds  of  ad- 
venturers, who  brought  plans  and  offered  advice.  Among 
them  were  two  spies  of  Cardinal  Dubois — the  Regent's 
Minister.  At  the  meetings  all  sorts  of  documents  were  com- 
posed, such  as  "  A  Manifesto  from  the  King  of  Spain  to 
France,"  and  *'  A  Petition  from  the  French  People  to  the 
King  of  Spain." 

Cellamare  entrusted  to  the  Abbe  Porto-Carrero  the  task 
of  taking  some  of  these  to  Spain,  together  with  a  list  of 
officers  who  were  said  to  be  ready  to  serve  Spain.  Cardinal 
Dubois  thought  it  a  good  time  to  stop  the  conspiracy  and 
had  Porto-Carrero  followed  and  arrested  at  Poitiers. 

The  Abbe  Brigault  was  also  arrested  ;  he  confessed 
everything  and  gave  the  names  of  the  conspirators.  The 
house  of  the  Spanish  Ambassador  was  surrounded  and  the 
house  in  Rue  St  Honore,  where  the  Duchesse  du  Maine  had 
carried  on  her  plots. 

The  Due  du  Maine  was  at  Sceaux.  He  was  taken  to  the 
fortress  of  Douilens  in  Picardy,  and  when  under  examina- 
tion proclaimed  his  innocence,  and  declared  that  he  was  in 


/  • 


SURVIVORS  OF  THE  INNER  CIRCLE  303 
complete  ignorance  as  to  the  plot,  and  he  never  uttered  a 
word  that  could  compromise  othere.  Meantime  the 
Duchesse  du  Maine  had  been  conveyed  to  the  citadel  of 
Dijon  and  there  incarcerated.  But  the  easy-going  Regent 
soon  allowed  her  to  have  a  comfortable  estabhshment  to 
communicate  with  the  outside  world,  to  receive  visits  and 
to  go  out  driving.  After  a  year  had  elapsed,  he  promised 
free  pardon  to  all  who  would  confess,  and  aU  concerned  did 
confess  except  Madame  de  Staal  de  Launay. 

When  the  confessions  of  the  Duchesse  were  shown  to  the 
Due  du  Maine  he  became  furious.  "  What  a  misfortune  " 
he  said,  "to  have  such  a  wife."  "  Everything  had  been  con- 
cealed from  him,  because  the  plotters  well  knew  that  had 
he  been  aware  of  what  was  going  on  he  would  have  stopped 
It."  He  remained  unshaken  in  this  position.  He  certainly 
took  no  active  part  in  the  affair,  but  was  always  in  such 
dread  of  his  wife  that,  even  if  he  had  had  suspicions,  he 
would  have  been  afraid  to  interfere. 

In  her  confession  his  wife  quite  exonerated  him  saying 
that  she  had  taken  great  pains  to  hide  what  she  w^  doing 
from  him.  AU  the  prisoners  were  released,  but  the  Due  du 
Maine  refused  to  see  his  wife  and  retired  to  Clagny 
However,  in  six  months'  time  she  managed  to  effect  a  re- 
concihation  and  he  went  to  live  with  her  at  Sceaux.  He 
died  of  cancer  in  the  face,  1736. 

The  Duchesse  du  Maine  lived  on  for  seventeen  years 
longer,  and  continued  to  work  hard,  day  and  night  to 
divert  herself.  She  gave  entertainments  at  which  come- 
dies, tragedies,  and  operas  were  performed,  to  which  the 
Court  flocked,  and  she  surrounded  herself  with  a  literary 
society,  among  whom  Voltaire  and  Descartes  were  shining 
lights,  for  she  studied  phUosophy,  physics,  and  astronomy 


J 


304 


MADAME  DE  MAINTENON 


as  well  as  lighter  subjects.  She  died  in  1753,  at  the  age  of 
seventy-eight.  She  left  two  sons,  the  Prince  de  Dombes 
and  Comte  d'Eu,  who  made  little  noise  in  the  world. 
Sceaux  was  confiscated  by  the  G)nvention,and  demoUshedi 
the  grounds  are  turned  into  fields  for  agriculture — only  the 
pavilion  in  the  garden  is  left,  and  is  used  as  a  pubUc  resort 
and  dancing-hall  by  Parisian  workpeople. 


CHAPTER   XXVIII 

LAST  DAYS   OF  ST  CYR 

THE  child  King  was  often  brought  to  play  in  the 
grounds  of  St  Cyr  and  was  the  object  of  the 
adorationofthosewhoremembered  his  mother, 
but  St  Cyr  languished  during  the  Regency,  and 
untU  Louis  XV.  married  Marie  Leczinska.  She  came  in 
state  to  visit  the  Community  and  promised  to  be  their 
second  Superior  and  to  endeavour  to  replace  Madame  de 
Maintenon,  This  Queen  often  made  retreats  there  and 
attended  a  service  every  Sunday  afternoon.  She  obtained 
the  right  to  nominate  pupils  and  persuaded  Cardinal  Fleury 
to  re-establish  the  fund  for  dowries  for  pupils  of  an  age  to 
leave,  and  gave  the  veil  to  novices  when  they  made  their 
profession. 

In  1731,  after  she  had  been  six  years  Queen  of  France, 
Marie  Leczinska  attended  a  performance  of  Esther,  Some 
of  the  ladies  of  the  community,  Mesdames  de  Veilhant, 
Champigny  and  Beaulieu,  who  had  taken  part  in  the  first 
representation  in  the  previous  reign,  were  still  living,  and 
were  dehghted  to  teach  the  pupils  the  parts  they  themselves 
had  played. 

In  1745  the  Dauphin,  son  of  Louis  XV.,  brought  his 
bride  to  hear  a  performance  of  M.  Roy's  Idyll  of  St  Cyr,  for 
which  Clairambault  had  composed  the  music. 

In  1750  Madame  de  Pompadour  came  to  hear  the  same 
piece  performed.  We  do  not  know,  but  may  guess,  what 
'  30s 


3o6  MADAME  DE  MAINTENON 

the  ladies  of  the  Community  thought  when  the  Due  de 
Noailles  announced  her  intention. 

After  the  daughters  of  Louis  XV.  returned  to  the  Court 
from  Fontevrault,  where  they  had  been  educated,  they 
often  went  to  St  Cyr  and,  with  the  Dauphin  and 
Dauphiness,  were  present  at  a  performance  of  Esther,"  for 
which  Louis  Racine,  son  of  the  late  author,  had  coached 
the  performers.  Madame  Louise,  who  became  a  Carmelite 
Nun,  used  to  make  retreats  there. 

That  prince  of  letter  writers,  Horace  Walpole,  paid  a 
visit  to  St  Cyr  in  1719,  and  wrote  the  following  account  of 
it:— 

"  The  first  thing  that  I  desired  to  see  was  the  apart- 
ment of  Madame  de  Maintenon.     It  was  composed  of 
two  small  rooms  on  the  ground-floor,  a  library,  and  a 
very  small  sleeping  apartment,  the  same  m  which  the 
Czar  saw  her,  and  in  which  she  died  ;  the  bed  is  taken 
away  and  the  room  is  now  hung  with  badly-painted 
portraits  of  the  Royal  Family.     One  cannot  help  being 
struck  with  the  simpHcity  of  the  furniture,  and  neatness 
that  is  everywhere  apparent.     A  large  room  above, 
consisting  of  five  divisions,   which  was  intended  by 
Louis  XIV.  for  Madame  de  Maintenon,  is  now  used  as  an 
Infirmary.     There  are  very  neat  white  curtains,  and  the 
rooms  have  passages  from  the  Sacred  Wntings  which 
prove  that  the  foundress  was  a  Queen.  •  •  •  The  hour 
for  Vespers  having  come,  we  were  conducted  to  the 
chapel,  and  I  was  placed  in  Madame  de  Maintenon  s 
seat  •  the  boarders,  each  class  of  whom  is  headed  by  a 
lady,'  entered  by  two's,  took  their  places  and  chanted 
the  service.    The  young  girls  numbered  two  hundredl 
and  fifty.     Their  hair  is  frizzed  and  powdered.     Iheir 
coiffure  is  a  kind  of  round  cap  with  white  bows  and  large 
collars,  their  costume  is,  in  short,  very  elegant,     ine 
'  rehdous '  are  all  dressed  in  black,  with  hanging  veils 
of  crape,  handkerchiefs  of  white  stuff,  bands  and  dresses 
with  trains.    The  chapel  is  simple,  but  very  pretty . 


LAST  DAYS  OF  ST  CYR  307 

in  the  middle  of  the  choir,  under  a  small  canopy,  reposes 
the  foundress.  .   .   .  Madame  de  Cambis,  one  of  the 
rehgious   who  are  in  number  about  forty,  is  as  beautiful 
as  a  Madonna.    The  abbess  has  only  a  larger  and 
handsomer  gold  cross  to  distinguish  her  from  the  rest  • 
her  apartment  consists  of  two  very  small  rooms      We 
saw  there  twenty  portraits  of  Madame  de  Maintenon. 
1  he  lull-length  one  in  royal  robes,  of  which  I  possess  a 
copy,  IS  the  one  most  frequently  repeated  ;  ^  but  there 
is  another  m  which  she  is  represented  in  black,  with  a 
head-dress  of  lace,  and  a  trained  skirt.     She  is  seated  in 
a  chair  of  crimson  velvet,  her  niece,  Madame  de  Noailles 
still  a  mere  child  is  on  her  knees  ;  whilst  in  the  distance 
is  a  view  of  St  Cyr.     We  were  shown  some  rich  relics 
after  which  we  were  taken  to  the  class  rooms.     In  the 
hrst  the  young  girls,  who  were  playing  chess,  were 
desired  to  sing  to  us  the  choruses  in  Athalie ;  in  the 
second  they  were  told  to  execute  some  minuets  and 

''^'!I'i^.,?^''c^^'  "^^'^^^  ^"^^^^^  '  religious  '  a  little  less 
skiUed  than  Saint  Cecilia,  performed  on  the  violin.  In 
the  others  they  repeated  dialogues  that  had  been  written 
tor  them  by  Madame  de  Maintenon.  After  this  we  were 
present  at  the  supper.  At  last  we  were  taken  to  the 
archives,  where  we  saw  also  volumes  of  Madame  de 
Maintenon  s  letters  ;  one  of  the  '  religious  '  gave  me  a 
small  piece  of  paper  with  three  words  in  her  own  hand- 
wnting.  Our  visit  ended  with  the  garden,  which  had  a 
very  imposing  appearance  ;    there  the  pupils  played 

^f^St^C  r        ^^""^^  ^^^""""^  ""^  '  ^""^  ^^""^  "^^  took  leave 

Whenever  a  foreign  princess  married  into  the  French 
royal  family,  she  was  taken  to  St  Cyr.  The  Comte  de 
Provence  (afterwards  Louis  XVIII.)  brought  his  bride 
there  in  1771,  accompanied  by  Marie  Antoinette,  herself 
not  long  married.  The  girls  welcomed  the  bride  by  singing 
a  song  in  her  praise.  This  reception  cost  the  community 
1160  francs  for  dresses,  music  and  festivity. 

*  Painted  by  Mignard  in  1694. 


3o8 


MADAME  DE  MAINTENON 


LAST  DAYS  OF  ST  CYR 


309^ 


The  reception  of  the  Comte  d'Artois  and  his  bride  in 
1773  cost  double.     Both  brides  were  daughters  of  the  King 

of  Sardinia. 

From  her  earhest  days  Madame  EUzabeth,  sister  of 
Louis  XVL  came  to  St  Cyr  every  week  with  her  attendants. 
The  King  and  Marie  Antoinette  took  the  greatest  interest 
in  the  institution,  and  employed  the  community  to 
distribute  their  alms. 

In  1791  the  Duchesse  d'Orleans  visited  St  Cyr,  ac- 
companied by  the  Marechal  Boufflers.  In  writing  an 
account  of  the  visit,  he  said  : — 

"  I  was  here  forty-seven  years  ago  in  Madame  de 
Maintenon's  Ufetime.  Nothing  is  changed  except  the 
faces.  It  is  impossible  not  to  be  touched,  edified  and 
filled  with  respect  by  the  tone  of  the  place.  The 
schoolgirls  are  not  schoolgirls,  the  nuns  are  not  nuns. 
The  first  are  well-bred  young  ladies,  the  second  sensible 
women." 

He  then  described  the  evolutions  of  the  pupils  on  enter- 
ing and  taking  their  places  in  chapel. 

"  The  Superior  took  her  place  in  the  choir,  a  small 
hammer  in  her  hand;  by  giving  taps  with  it,  she 
conveyed  directions  to  stop,  form  in  double  file,  treble 
'  file  kneel,  prostrate  themselves,  rise  ;  the  giris  all  the 
while  chanting  '  Salve  fac  Regem.*  They  sang  m  parts, 
very  correctly,  and  in  such  a  touching  manner  that 
tears  came  to  our  eyes." 

The  pupils  did  not  know  they  were  to  be  sent  away,  the 

nuns  did. 

The  Community  gave  employment  to  700  persons, 
and  distributed  15,000  francs  yearly,  supporting  schools 
and  contributing  to  the  erection  of  churches  in  surrounding 
villages  where  they  had  property. 


^ 


In  the  village  of  St  Cyr  a  hundred  loaves  of  bread  were 
distributed  weekly — but  the  villagers  were  the  first  to  begin 
the  work  of  destruction  and  spoliation  when  the  Revolu- 
tion gave  them  the  opportunity. 

On  the  8th  August  1792  Louis  signed  an  order  for  the 
admission  of  a  young  lady.  On  the  i6th  August  the 
National  Assembly  issued  a  decree  that  all  pupils  were  to 
be  sent  to  their  homes.  Domiciliary  visits,  confiscation 
and  spoliation  followed. 

The  list  of  pupils  was  burned,  other  registers  were 
removed  to  the  Municipal  Offices  at  Versailles ;  the 
cemetery  was  desecrated,  and  the  tombstones  sold. 

The  theatrical  properties,  including  Esther's  throne,  the 
religious  ornaments,  cooking  utensils  and  furniture,  as  well 
as  the  material  of  the  buildings  which  had  been  demolished, 
were  sold  by  public  auction  and  fetched  but  a  small  price. 

Of  the  ladies  of  the  Community  some  settled  in  parties 
of  five  or  six  together  in  different  parts  of  Versailles,  sub- 
sisting on  pensions  allowed  by  the  Government — others 
retired  into  the  provinces,  presumably  to  live  with 
relations.  Some  of  them,  with  Madame  des  Essarts  at  their 
head,  started  a  school  at  Orleans  in  1795,  to  which  the  old 
nobility  were  glad  to  send  their  daughters. 

Louis  XVI.  had  decreed  that  the  daughters  of  the 
ruined  noble  families  of  Corsica  were  to  be  eligible  for 
admission  to  St  Cyr,  and  Marianna-Eliza  Buonaparte 
(generally  called  Eliza — and  afterwards  married  to  Prince 
Baciocchi)  who  was  bom  in  Ajaccio,  3rd  January  1777, 
had  been  admitted  in  June  1784. 

The  Duchesse  d'Abrantes  relates  that  Napoleon 
Buonaparte  went  with  her  mother,  Madame  Permon,  to 
visit  his  sister  at  St  Cyr. 


3IO 


MADAME  DE  MAINTENON 


On  this  occasion  Eliza  appeared  very  melancholy  and  out 
of  spirits.  Her  brother  inquired  the  reason,  and  she  said 
that  one  of  the  pupils  was  about  to  leave  and  an  entertain- 
ment in  her  honour  was  being  prepared  by  her  class-mates, 
of  whom  Eliza  was  one.  All  were  asked  to  contribute  to 
the  expenses,  but  Eliza  had  nothing  to  give,  and  felt 
humiliated. 

On  hearing  this  Napoleon's  first  impulse  was  to  put  his 
hand  in  his  pocket — but  remembering  that  it  was  empty 
he  stopped  short,  coloured  up  and  stamped  his  foot. 
Madame  Pemon  gave  Eliza  the  sum  she  desired,  but  while 
driving  back  to  Paris  Napoleon  inveighed  against  a  system 
which  allowed  a  few  rich  girls  to  set  the  fashion  in  an 
expenditure  impossible  for  the  greater  number  of  pupils 
who,  like  his  sister,  were  State-Pensioners,  and  were  thus 
made  to  feel  the  difference  of  their  positions  in  a  painful 
way. 

Eliza  Buonaparte  remained  at  St  Cyr  till  1792,  when, 
on  loth  August,  a  Decree  of  the  Revolutionary  Govern- 
ment abolished  the  institution,  on  hearing  which  her 
brother  Napoleon,  at  that  time  a  yoimg  officer  in  the 
artillery,  went  to  St  Cyr  on  the  ist  September,  and 
obtained  leave  from  the  Mayor  of  the  Commune  to  take 
away  his  sister  the  same  day,  in  order  to  send  her  to 
rejoin  his  family.  His  next  visit  to  St  Cyr  was  on  the  28th 
June  1805 — when  he  had  converted  it  into  a  Military 
Academy,  and  he  himself  was  Emperor  and  Master  of 
France. 

He,  however,  held  the  famous  institution  where  his 
sister  had  been  educated  in  high  esteem,  and  he  founded 
one  on  similar  lines  at  Ecouen,  to  provide  a  free  education 
for  the  daughters  of  those  who  had  won  the  distinction  of 


LAST  DAYS  OF  ST  CYR 


311 


the  Legion  of  Honour,  and  placed  it  under  the  super- 
intendence of  Madame  Campan. 

She  had  been  a  lady-in-waiting  to  Marie  Antoinette  and 
escaped  the  guillotine  by  the  death  of  Robespierre.  She 
was  penniless  and  set  up  a  school  at  St  Germains  to  which 
the  nouveaux  riches  and  mushroom  nobility  of  the  Empire 
were  glad  to  send  their  daughters,  knowing  that  Madame 
Campan  would  be  able  to  impart  to  her  pupils  the  tone 
and  manners  of  good  society.  Napoleon's  stepdaughter, 
Hortense  Beauhamais,  as  well  as  his  sister  Caroline,  were 
among  her  pupils,  and  the  success  of  her  school  induced 
him  to  place  her  at  the  head  of  his  new  institution  at 
Ecouen. 

When  he  visited  it  and  wished  to  praise,  he  always  said, 
"  It  is  as  good  as  St  Cyr." 

In  connection  with  St  Cyr,  a  reminiscence  that  is  of 
interest  to  English  people  is  the  fact  that  we  owe  to  it  our 
National  Anthem. 

On  the  first  occasion  that  Louis  XIV.  visited  St  Cyr 
the  pupils  sang  a  chorus,  the  words  of  which  were  com- 
posed by  Madame  de  Brinon,  the  first  Superior,  and  the 
music  by  Lulli,  Master  of  the  King's  Music. 

It  begins  :  "  Grand  Dieu  !  Sauvez  le  Roi !  "  and  was 
sung  whenever  royalty  visited  St  Cyr  during  a  hundred 
years. 

In  1721  Handel  visited  St  Cyr,  and  was  much  impressed 
by  this  composition  and  annexed  it. 

After  translating  the  words,  he  had  it  performed  before 
King  George  I.  in  London,  and  since  then,  as  "  God  save 
the  King  !  "  it  has  become  part  of  our  national  Ufe. 


THE   END 


INDEX 


D'Abrantes,  Duchesse,  309 
Alberoni,  Cardinal,  301 
d'Albret,  Mar6chal,  47,  57,  91 

Marechale,  56,  57,  58,  62,  68,  91 

Hotel,  60 

Anne  of  Austria,  41,  55,  56,  62,  64 
d'Anjou,  Due,  164,  249 
d'Antin,  Marquis,  140,  178,  265 
Arnauld  d'Audilly,  155 
d'Artois,  Corate,  308 
d'Aubign^,  Amable,  192,  195 

Archbishop,  109,  291,  298,  301 

Charles,  32,  38,  47, 90,  168,  187, 

189,  190 
Constantine,  21,  22,  23,  24,  29, 

31,  33 
Fran9oise,  19,  24,  26,  32-8,  42, 

44-7 

Mdme  Charles,  190-2 

Mdme  Jeanne,  23,  26,  29,  32,  33, 


35.  37,  45,  46 

Theodore  Agrippa,  19,  20,  26, 


1/ 


31,  32,  34,  93,  108,  109,  no 
d'Aumale,  Mdlle,  64,  160,  230,  242, 

244,  286,  287,  288,  292,  294,  300 
d'Aumont,  Duchesse  de,  55 
Avon,  172,  235 
d'Axy,  Mdme,  146 
d'Ayen,  Comte,  193,  194,  I95 

Comtesse,  195 

Duchesse,  197 

Barbani,  Mdmede,  21 

Barege,  89 

Barillon,  M.  de,  124,  177 

Basque,  Mdme  de,  200 

Bavaria,  Elector  of,  163,  265 

Bazire,  275 

Beaud6an,  Susanne  de,  25 

Beauharnais,  Hortense,  31 1 

Beauvilliers,  Due  de,  210 

Bclfort,  96 

Bellefonds,  Marechal,  183,  212 

Belle-Isle,  20 

Benedictines,  Convent  of,  298 


Berneval,  Mdme  de,  217,  225 
Bern,  Due  de,  137,  187 

Duchesse  de,  179,  241 

Blois,  Mdlle  de,  107,   1 10,  121,  140, 

142,  261 
Boileau,  140,  163,  208 
Boislisle,  64 
Bolingbroke,  27,  272 
Bonaparte,  Caroline,  311 

Eliza,  309 

Napoleon,  310 

Bontemps,  70,  130,  145 

Bossuet,  58,  103,  105,  142,  163,  282 

Boucher,  le,  46 

Boufflers,  Marechal,  251,  308 

Bourbon,  Due  de,  137,  142,  176,  177, 

Brancas,  Due  de,  76,  180 

Brigault,  Abbe,  302 

Brisacier,  Abbe,  295 

Bruyere,  163 

Burgundy,  Duchess  of,  169,  170,  221, 

254,  257     ^  ^     ^ 
Duke  of,  137,  179,  250-6,  263 

Bussy  Rabutin,  56,  167 

Cabart  de  Villermont,  45,  46 
Cambis,  Mdme  de,  307 
Campan,  Mdme,  311 
Casteja,  Mdlle  de,  230,  246 
Caumont  d'Ade,  21,  29,  33,  112 
Caylus,   Comtesse  de,    211,   236-41, 

288,  292,  298,  300 
Cellamare,  301,  302 
Celeste,  Mother,  36,  145 
Chaise,  Pere  de  la,  72,  126,  130,  206, 

283 
Chamarande,  Marquis  de,  173 
Chamillard,  M.  de,  168,  250,  253,  255 
Champmesl^,  211 
Chartres,  Bishop  of,   130,  133,   156, 

215 
Chatelaillon,  Baronne  de,  21 

Chaulnes,  Duchesse  de,  212 

Chevreuse,  Duchesse  de,  161,  176 

313 


314 


MADAME  DE  MAINTENON 


Christina,  Queen,  49 

Clagny,  133,  142 

Clairambault,  303 

Colbert,  71 

Compi^gne,  166,  246 

Conde,  Prince  de,  30,  100,  139,  164, 

167,  246 
Conti,  Prince  de,  137,  164,  167,  177, 

246 

Princesse  de,  131,  167 

Cottereau,  84 

Coulanges,  Mdme  de,  37,  58,  73,  75, 

85,  133,  212 

Dangeau,    Marquis    de,    141,   234, 

235,  236 

Marquise  de,  233,  234,  235,  291 

Dauphin,    Monseigneur  le,   73,    107, 

131.  137.  164,  169,  170,  177,  256 
Dauphiness,  108,  112,  117,  124,  164, 

226 
Descartes,  303 
Deslandes  Payen,  47 
Dinant,  247 
Dombes,  Comt^,  ICX) 

Prince  de,  304 

Douiliens,  302 
Dubois,  Cardinal,  302 

EcouEN,  310 

Elizabeth.  Mdme,  308 

I'Enclos,  Ninon  de,  48,  55,  58,  132, 

152 

des  Essarts,  Mdme  de,  309 
d'Estrees,  Cardinal,  117 

Due,  193 

Esther,  163,  193,  303,  309 
Eugene,  Prince,  252 
d'Eu,  Comte,  304 

Fagon,  le  Medecin  du  Roi,  168 
Fayette,  la,  Mdme  de,  55,  58 
F^nelon,  153,  163,  193,  217,  257 
Ferdinand,  216 
Fiesque,  Mdme  de,  47 
Fleury,  Cardinal,  305 
Fontaine,  la,  58,  163 

Mdme  de,  216,  246 

Fontainebleau,    124,    128,    131,    172, 

174, 26s 
Fontanges,  Mdlle  de,  120,  122,  123, 

127 
Fontevrault,  Abbess  of,  95,  141,  143, 

306 
Fouquet,  52 


Francis  I.,  84 

Froulay,  Comtesse  de,  38 

Geneva,  21,  26 

Genoa,  134 

Ghent,  96 

Glapion,  Mdme  de,   144,    154,  219, 

291 
Gobelin,    Abbe,  61,  62,  71,  81,  89, 

Gomerfontaine,  Abbess  of,  218 
Grammont,  Due  de,  180 
Grignan,  Chevalier  de,  213 

Mdme  de,  85 

Grouchy,  M.  de,  49 

Handel,  311 
d'Harcourt,  Comte,  267 

Princesse,  246 

Harley,  Archbishop  of  Paris,  130 
Henri  IV.,  20,  27,  148,  281 
d'Hocquincourt,  M.,  184 
Hospitalieres  Couvent,  54 
d'Hudicourt,  Mdme,  68,  233 
Huguenots,  147,  149,  280 

Jansenism,  239,  285 
James  II.,  198,  212,  240 
Jesuits,  283,  284 
Joly,  M.,  46 

Langal^rie,  Marquis  de,  249 
Lauzun,  76,  97,  100 
Laval,  Comte,  302 

de  L^zay,  Mdlle,  27,  42 

Leczinstra,  Queen  Marie,  180,  365 

L^on,  Prince  de,  267 

Le  Tellier,  Chancellor,  64,  147,  281 

L^vis,  Marquise  de,  233 

Liege,  siege  of,  249 

Lille,  siege  of,  242 

Longueville,  Mdme  de,  l6l 

Loubert,  Mdme  de,  216 

Louis  XIV.,  children,  71,  137 

death,  270 

first  marriage,  66 

marries  Madame  de  Maintenon, 

127 

reign  and  character,  272 

XV.,  263,  273,  300,  305,  306 

XVI.,  308,  309 

XVIIL,  307 

Louvois,   M.   de,  95,  119,   130,  14S, 

147,  278,  281 
Lulli,  311 


INDEX 


315 


Luxembourg,  siege  of,  34 

Marechal,  250 

Mailly,  Comtesse  de,  180 
Maine,  Due  du,  70,  71,  81,  89-101, 
177,  291,  293,  301,  303 

Duchesse  du,  164,  166,  301-4 

Maintenon,  Chateau  de,  64,  84,  88, 

130,  298 

Marquisate,  85 

Maisonforte,  Mdme  de,  217 
Malezien,  M.  de,  302 
Malplaquet,  252 

Mans,  140 

Mansard,  201 

Manseau,  145,  146 

Marais,  le,  48 

Marie  Antoinette,  307,  308,  311 

Mancini,  65 

Therese,    Queen,    66,    68,   73, 

III,  118,  277 
Marlborough,  Duke  of,  252 
Marly,  150,  175.  176.  250,  255,  267 
Marsilly,  Mdlle  de,  198 
Martinique,  31,  32,  42,  78 
Masillon,  134,  163 
Mazarin,  Cardinal,  31,  41 »  161,  252, 

272 
M^re,  Chevalier  de,  38,  51,  57 
Meudon,  Chiteau  de,  177,  195.  247 
Mignard,  58,  133 
Modena,  Queen  Mary  of,  198 
Moli^re,  58,  162,  163,  265 
Mons,  246-247 
Montalambert,  217 
Montbrisson,  201 
Montchevrueil,  59,  68,  107,  128,  130, 

237 
Montespan,  Mdme  de,  64,  65,  67-74, 

78,  81,  83,  95,97,  103,  105,  116, 

120-2,  138,  143,  278 
Montespan,  Marquis  de,  67,  178 
Montgon,  Mdme  de,  198 
Montpensier,  Mdlle  de,  100,  171 
Momay,  Comtesse  de,  181 
Mortemarte,  50,  61,  78 
Mun,  Marquis  de,  78 
Mursay,  Chateau  de,  27 

Mdlle  de,  115,  21 1,  237 

Namur,  siege  of,  246,  247,  249 
Nantes,  Edict  of,  147,  I49»  255»  280 

Mdlle   de,    74,    87,    107,    142, 

164,  176 

Nanon,  57,  115,  125,  130,  I45i  203 


Navailles,  Duchesse  de,  25,  42,  58 
Neuillant,  Baron  de,  25,  29 

Mdme  de,  25,  35,  36,  43,  4^,  57 

Niort,  city  of,  23,  24,  26,  36,  38,  93, 

298 
Noailles,  Cardinal,  150,  193 

Due  de,  64,  130,  193,  195,  286, 

294 
Duchesse  de,  196,  197,  233 

Marechal,  197 

D'O,  Marquise,  333 
Orange,  city,  33 

Prince  of,  199,  222,  246,  247 

d'Orleans,    Duchesse    ("Madame"), 

137,  163,  181,  250 
Gaston,  22,  41,  97 

Mdlle,  72,  97,  100,  164 

Philippe,  Due,  105,  136,  163 

the  Regent,  164,  171,  182,  261, 

270,  289 

d'Osmond,  Mademoiselle,  242 
Oudenarde,  battle  of,  252 

Palatine,  Princess,  161 
Parab^re,  Marquis  de,  38 
Pascal,  163 

P6ron,  Mdme  de,  216,  299 
Peter  the  Great,  293 
Poitiers,  23 
Poitou,  93,  94,  109 
Polignac,  Cardinal,  302 
Pomereau,  Mdme  de,  47 
Pompadour,  Marquis,  302 

Marquise,  303 

Pons,  Mdlle  de,  58,  91,  233 
Pope  Alexander  VIII.,  207 

Innocent  II.,  207 

Porto  Carr6ro,  Abbe,  302 
Portugal,  Queen  of,  69 
Pybrac,  S.  de,  34 

QUIETISTS,  285 

Quinet,  Marquisate  de,  51 

Racine,  150,  163,  209 

Louis,  306 

Ragois,  AbbI,  89 

Ramilies,  252 

Richelieu,  Cardinal,  22,  30,  31 

Due  de,  57 

Duchesse  de,  50,  63,  124 

H6tel  de,  57 

Riviere,  46,  48 
I  Rochefort,  106 


< 


3i6 


MADAME  DE  MAINTENON 


Rochefoucauld,  Due  de,  25,  58,  193 
Rochelle,  22 
Rohan,  Cardinal,  270 

Due  de,  260 

Roquelaure,  Mdlle  de,  266 
Rouen,  Archbishop,  301 
Rue,  Douze  Portes,  48 

Marais,  41,  49 

Neuve  St  Louis,  48,  54 

St  Antoine,  266,  283 

St  Honore,  302 

St  Jacques,  42,  57 

Toumelles,  37 

Rueil,  116,  145,  200 

Sabli^re,  Marquise  de,  50,  71 
St  Cyr,  201-31,  286,  297,  306-11 

Denis,  80,  81,  201,  207,  261 

Geran,  193,  233 

Germains,  70,  79,  222,  275 

Herman,  42,  43,  46 

Hermione,  112 

Joseph,  144 

Louis,  Dames  de,  203,  208,  210, 


215 


Simon,  59,  91,  166,  173,  261 


Salsins,  Abbaye  de,  248 
Saxony,  Elector  of,  265 
Scarron,  Madame,  49-66,  81-83 

Mdlle  Anne,  41 

Mdlle  Fran^oise,  41 

Paul,  39-53 

Sceaux,  165,  303,  304 
Scudery,  52,  58 
Sens,  Archbishop  of,  64 
Sensac,  Artemise  de,  94 

M.  de,  93 

S^vigne,   Mdme  de,  58,  73,  85,  93, 

123,  132,  183,  212,  281 
Soissons,  Comte  de,  1 79 

Comtessc  de,  252 

Soubise,  Prince  de,  265 
Spain,  King  of,  249,  171 

Queen  of,  213,  251 

Spannheim,  149 

Staal  Delaunay,  Mdme  de,  302,  303 

Stuart,  Henrietta,  199 

Pretender,  199 

Surineau,  19,  22,  24,  37,  93 

Tallemant  DBS  Reaux,  60 


Tellier,  P^re  le,  270,  271,  284 
Tess^,  Marauise  de,  78 
Testu,  Abbe,  q8,  73,  212 
Tiberge,  Abbe,  295 
Tiraqueau,  Baron,  42,  46 

Mdlle,  25 

Toulaigre,  275 

Toulouse,  Comte  de,  105,  177,  293 

Touraine,  48 

Tour,  Mdlle  de  la,  299 

P^re  de  la,  239 

Tresmes,  Due  de,  41 
Trompette,  Chateau,  22,  91 
Trousse,  M.  de  la,  183 
Troyes,  H6tel,  41 
Turenne,  Mar^chal,  58,  76,  250 

Ursins,     Princesse    des,     58,   240, 

250 
Ursulines,  Convent,  36 
Utrecht,  Peace  of,  255 

VALLifeRE,  la,  67,  68,  127,  137,  278 

Vaugirard,  70,  261 

Veilhant,  Mdmede,  211,  247,  304 

Vend6me,  Due  de,  179,  251 

Ventadour,  Duehesse  de,  113,  153 

Verneuil,  Due  de,  100 

Versailles,   81,    159,    168,    175,  236, 

240 
Vexin,  Comte  de,  70,  71,  74,  79,  80 
Villar9eaux,  M.  de,  58,  59,  60,  151 
Villars,  Marechal,  183,  251 
Villaviciosa,  223 
Villeroy,  Due  de,  238,  239,  300 

Marechal,    57,    64,    239,    251, 

286,  291 

Villette,  Marquis  de,  113,  197,  198, 

230 
Marquise  de,  21,  26,  29,  31,  34, 

35.37,  114 
Vitor,  Abb^,  295 

Vivonne,  Due  de,  58,  68,  189 

Ren6e  de,  21 

Walpole,  Horace,  249 

War  in  Netherlands,  1 34,  140,  245 

of    Spanish    Succession,    245, 


249 


of  the  League,  19 


West  Indies,  31,  32 


THE   SPANISH   SERIES 

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IN  A  TUSCAN  GARDEN 

«  * 

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